Are people satisfied with their time use? Empirical evidence from German survey data

Using data from the German Time Use Survey, we examine how people allocate their time and how satisfied people are with their time use. Our results suggest that people are more satisfied with the time spent on work and work-related activities than with the time spent on leisure, family, and friends. Moreover, we find that non-employed individuals are more satisfied with their time spent on private and leisure activities than employed individuals. Exploring the factors that affect overall time use satisfaction, we find - among significant age and gender effects - a much more positive effect of time spent on various leisure activities for employed than for non-employed individuals.