Where does the time go?

We all feel time is passing too fast, yet new data shows women are still doing most of the housework, on top of everything else.

The latest Time Use Survey* released in December 2025 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that more than a third of females (36 per cent) and 30 per cent of males reporting they always or often feel rushed for time.

Is working from home just a bludge? On the contrary, the data revealed that people who worked from home in 2024 spent an hour longer doing unpaid work during their workday. On average, they spent 3 hours and 24 minutes doing unpaid work, compared with 2 hours and 26 minutes for those who worked outside the home.

Disappointingly, women continued to spend more time on unpaid work, averaging 4 hours and 53 minutes a day, while men spent 3 hours and 52 minutes.

Unpaid work includes domestic duties like housework, food and drink preparation and shopping, as well as looking after children, other adults, and volunteering.

The data shows that mothers spend more time looking after children (4 hours 38 minutes) than fathers (3 hours 29 minutes). This includes things like providing personal care like feeding, bathing or changing, playing or helping with homework.

Just under one quarter (23 per cent) of people supervised a child while doing another activity (e.g., cooking, gardening, or watching TV) for an average of 7 hours 8 minutes a day.

When doing paid work, 9 per cent of people were also supervising a child, for an average of 5 hours 41 minutes a day.

When we had free time, many of us watched TV or streamed, with 62 per cent of people switching on for an average of 2 hours and 55 minutes a day. For the younger ones, though, it was more about gaming, with almost a quarter of young people aged 15-24 (23 per cent) reporting they played video or mobile games.

Young male gamers spent an average of 3 hours and 56 minutes gaming, while females spent 2 hours and 25 minutes.

* The 2024 Time Use Survey provides a broad snapshot of how Australians spend their time, and is used by governments to inform policy about family support, gender equality, workplaces and the value of unpaid work and looking after children.