Racial Intermarriage and Household Production

In the United States do hours of household work vary by whether individuals are in different-race or same-race couples? American Time Use Survey data for years 2003-2009 are analyzed for samples of white and black male and female respondents. We find that white women married to black men devote 0.4 fewer hours per day to chores than their counterparts in all-white marriages, which is comparable to the effect of a child on their hours of chores. Findings for white men also indicate that they work less at housework when in couple with black women than when in all-white couples. Conversely, blacks appear to do more chores if they are in couple with whites than when in all-black couples. Results are sensitive to whether time use was measured on weekdays or weekends, couples were married or not, employment status, and alternative definitions of black. Racial intermarriage differentials in hours of household work seem to be more prevalent among the U.S.-born than the foreign-born.