Families and Unemployment
The number of families with at least one unemployed member edged up to 9.7 million in 2010. The proportion of families with an unemployed member was 12.4 percent in 2010, up from 12.0 percent in 2009 and nearly double the 6.3 percent in 2007. (The most recent recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009 according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.) In 2010, black and Hispanic families remained more likely to have an unemployed member (19.2 and 17.4 percent, respectively) than white and Asian families (11.3 percent each).
Most families with an unemployed member also have at least one family member who is employed. Among families with an unemployed member in 2010, 67.7 percent also had an employed member, down from 68.6 percent in 2009 and 71.2 percent in 2007.
Among married-couple families with an unemployed member in 2010, 79.4 percent contained at least one employed member. Among families maintained by men (no spouse present) with an unemployed member, 53.3 percent had an employed member in 2010; for families maintained by women (no spouse present), the proportion was 44.7 percent. These proportions were little changed from 2009 for the three family types.
Families and Employment
The share of families with an employed member fell from 80.4 percent in 2009 to 80.0 percent in 2010. In 2007, 82.6 percent of families had an employed member. The likelihood of having an employed family member declined from 2009 to 2010 for white and Asian families to 80.3 and 87.3 percent, respectively, and edged lower for black families to 74.8 percent. There was little change in the likelihood of employment among Hispanic families (84.2 percent).
In 2010, families maintained by women with no spouse present remained less likely to have an employed member (71.9 percent) than married-couple families (82.1 percent) or families maintained by men with no spouse present (79.3 percent). For all three family types, the likelihood of having an employed member has fallen since 2007.
Both the husband and wife were employed in 47.8 percent of married-couple families in 2010, compared with 48.5 percent in 2009. The husband was the only worker in 19.7 percent of married-couple families in 2010, and the wife was the only worker in 8.6 percent. Both measures were little changed over the year.
Families with Children
Forty-four percent of all families included children (sons, daughters, stepchildren, and adopted children) under age 18. Among the 34.5 million families with children, 87.4 percent had an employed parent in 2010, down from 87.8 percent in 2009. The 2010 proportion is the lowest since the data series began in 1994. The mother was employed in 67.0 percent of families maintained by women with no spouse present in 2010, down from 67.8 percent in 2009. The father was employed in 75.8 percent of families maintained by men with no spouse present in 2010, little changed over the year. Among married-couple families with children, 95.7 percent had an employed parent in 2010, unchanged from the prior year. The share of married-couple families where both parents worked fell to 58.1 percent in 2010 from 58.9 percent in 2009.
Mothers
The labor force participation rate--the percent of the population working or looking for work--for all mothers with children under 18 was 70.8 percent in 2010, down from 71.4 percent in 2009. In 2010, the participation rate for married mothers with a spouse present (68.9 percent) remained lower than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses (75.0 percent). Married mothers were about as likely to be employed as mothers with other marital statuses in 2010, but their unemployment rate was substantially lower--6.3 percent, compared with 14.6 percent for mothers with other marital statuses. Unemployment rates increased from 2009 to 2010 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 2010, the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under 6 years old (63.9 percent) was lower than the rate of those whose youngest child was 6 to 17 years old (76.5 percent). The participation rate of mothers with infants under a year old was 56.5 percent. Among mothers with infants, there was little difference in the participation rate of married mothers (56.3 percent) and those with other marital statuses (57.0 percent). However, the unemployment rate for married mothers of infants, at 7.1 percent, was significantly lower than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses (22.5 percent).
