Time use among New Zealand members of parliament

This article provides a first attempt to describe time use among Members of Parliament (MPs). Drawing on an original survey on time use and a time diary of three working days (Wednesday–Friday) collected in 2013 among New Zealand MPs (N = 22), it presents a quantification and description of MPs’ time use. The data indicate that with an average of 13 h 20 min, MPs have long working days and many seem to face work–life balance issues. MPs also undertake a broad variety of activities during their working time, with meetings with various actors taking up a large part of their time. Finally, a correspondence analysis reveals that male and female MPs as well as first term and more experienced MPs display some differences in their time use. Social activities dominate more of the time of male MPs than they do for female MPs. Experienced MPs seem to spend more time in the House than first-term MPs. The latter spend more time on communication than experienced MPs.