The effect of changes in employment hours on changes in household task hours was studied. Data were used from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) waves one and two. Wave one was a probability sample of 13,017 age 19 and older in the United States who were interviewed in person in 1987-88. Wave two consisted of the original NSFH sample who were reinterviewed five years later in 1992-94. A subsample of 1233 men and women was created by selecting employed men and women who were continuously married to the same spouse, lived in the same household, and had a least one biological child under 18 living in the household at wave one and wave two. After controlling for age in years, education in years, race, wage rate, and age of youngest child, the subsample was used to determine if changes in employment hours caused changes in household task hours. Household task hours were categorized by feminine, masculine, and neutral, as well as total household task hours. Lag regression analysis without gender interaction effects found that a one hour increase in employment hours caused a sixteen minute decrease in total household tasks hours, a twelve minute decrease in feminine household task hours, and a two minute decrease in neutral household tasks among married men and women with children. Lag regression analysis with gender interaction effects found that a one hour increase in employment hours caused a sixteen minute decrease in total household tasks hours and a fourteen minute decrease for married women with children only. No statistically significant relationship between changes in employment hours and changes in any category of household tasks hours was found for married men with children when gender interactions were controlled. The results of this study supports the interaction of time availability and gender in explaining changes in household tasks hours. / Graduation date: 2001