Families and Unemployment
There were 9.4 million families with at least one unemployed member in 2009, up from 6.1 million in 2008. The proportion of families with an unemployed member was 6.3 percent in 2007; it rose to 7.8 percent in 2008 and to 12.0 percent in 2009.
Black and Hispanic families were more likely to have an unemployed member (17.4 and 16.9 percent, respectively) than were white (11.1 percent) and Asian (11.4 percent) families in 2009. Most families with an unemployed member also have at least one family member who is employed. Among families with an unemployed member in 2009, 68.6 percent also had an employed member, compared with 70.8 percent in 2008.
Among married-couple families with an unemployed member in 2009, 79.9 percent had an employed member, down from 82.5 percent in 2008. For families maintained by women (no spouse present) with an unemployed member, the proportion that also contained an employed member was lower in 2009 (46.1 percent) than in 2008 (49.1 percent). For families maintained by men (no spouse present), the proportion fell to 52.6 percent in 2009 from 57.3 percent in 2008.
Families and Employment
The share of families with an employed member was lower in 2009 (80.4 percent) than in 2008 (82.2 percent). The likelihood of having an employed family member declined over the year for families of all major race and ethnicity groups.
In 2009, families maintained by women with no spouse present were less likely to have an employed member (72.8 percent) than were married-couple families (82.4 percent) or families maintained by men with no spouse present (79.8 percent). The share of families with an employed member declined over the year for all family types.
Both the husband and wife were employed in 48.5 percent of married-couple families in 2009, compared with 51.4 percent in 2008. Married-couple families in which only the wife worked accounted for 8.4 percent of all married-couple families in 2009, compared with 6.9 percent in 2008. The husband was the only employed member in 19.6 percent of married-couple families in 2009, essentially unchanged from a year earlier.
Families with Children
Forty-four percent of all families included children (sons, daughters, step-children, and adopted children) under age 18. Among the 34.8 million families with children, 87.8 percent had an employed parent in 2009, down from 90.0 percent in 2008. The mother was employed in 67.8 percent of families maintained by women with no spouse present in 2009, and the father was employed in 76.6 percent of those maintained by men with no spouse present. Among married-couple
families with children, 95.7 percent had an employed parent in 2009, down from 97.0 percent in 2008. Both the mother and father were employed in 58.9 percent of married-couple families with children in 2009, also lower than a year earlier.
Mothers
The labor force participation rate - the percent of the population working or looking for work - for all mothers with children under 18 was 71.4 percent in 2009, unchanged from 2008. In 2009, the participation rate for married mothers with spouse present (69.6 percent) was lower than the rate for mothers in other marital statuses (75.8 percent). Married mothers were equally as likely to be employed as mothers in other marital statuses, but their unemployment rate was substantially lower - 5.8 percent in 2009, compared with 13.6 percent for mothers in other marital statuses. Unemployment rates increased in 2009 for mothers of all marital statuses.
Mothers with younger children are less likely to be in the labor force than mothers with older children. In 2009, the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under 6 years old (64.2 percent) was lower than the rate of those whose youngest child was 6 to 17 years old (77.3 percent). The participation rate of mothers with infants under a year old was 56.6 percent. The participation rate of married mothers of infants (56.1 percent) was slightly lower than for those with other marital statuses (57.8 percent). However, the unemployment rate for married mothers of infants, at 7.0 percent, was significantly lower than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses (22.3 percent).
