It's About Time: Examining Inequality in the Time Cost of Waiting

54 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2021 Last revised: 7 Jul 2021

See all articles by Stephen Holt

Stephen Holt

State University of New York (SUNY) - Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy

Katie Vinopal

Ohio State University (OSU) - John Glenn School of Public Affairs

Date Written: June 1, 2021

Abstract

Time spent waiting for services represents unproductive time imposed on individuals trying to fulfill basic needs. While qualitative and ethnographic work has found that income disparities also translate into disparities in time kept waiting for services, little evidence exists to confirm the scale and extent of socioeconomic differences in waiting time. We use time diary data from the nationally representative American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to estimate the difference between high- and low-income people in time spent waiting for basic services. We find that, relative to high-income people, low-income people are 3 percentage-points more likely to spend time waiting on an average day and their waiting spells are 12 minutes longer on average. The income gap in waiting time cannot be explained by differences in family obligations, demographics, education, work time, or travel time. Further, we find that high-income Black people experience the same higher average wait times as low-income people regardless of race. Our results suggest socioeconomic and racial inequalities in neighborhood quality, work schedule flexibility, and access to services exacerbate inequality in daily quality of life and the availability of productive time.

Keywords: Time Use, Inequality, Waiting Time

JEL Classification: I14, I32, D12

Suggested Citation

Holt, Stephen and Vinopal, Katie, It's About Time: Examining Inequality in the Time Cost of Waiting (June 1, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3857883 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3857883

Stephen Holt (Contact Author)

State University of New York (SUNY) - Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy ( email )

1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
United States

Katie Vinopal

Ohio State University (OSU) - John Glenn School of Public Affairs ( email )

110 Page Hall
1810 College Road
Columbus, OH 43210
United States

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