Time to learn? Time allocations among children in South Africa

We investigate the time allocations of children (10-17 years) in South Africa using nationally representative time-diary data. We show that racial variation in time allocations mirrors well-documented findings of racially differentiated schooling outcomes. African children spend significantly less time on learning activities than other children, particularly outside school hours. They also spend significantly more time on household and production work and on school-related travel. We use regression analysis to investigate whether these race differences persist among children in households with similar socio-economic characteristics; and we explore whether children's subjective time evaluations reveal evidence of greater time pressure among African children.