Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0568
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Wednesday, May 27, 2009
EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES IN 2008
The share of families with an unemployed member rose from 6.3 percent
in 2007 to 7.8 percent in 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor reported today. The proportion of families with an
unemployed member in 2008 neared the recent peak of 8.1 percent in 2003.
Of the nation's 77.9 million families, 82.2 percent had at least one em-
ployed member in 2008, down by 0.4 percentage point from 2007.
These data on employment, unemployment, and family relationships are
collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sam-
ple survey of approximately 60,000 households. Families include married-
couple families, as well as families maintained by a man or woman with no
spouse present. For further information about the CPS, see the Technical
Note.
Families and Unemployment
There were 6.1 million families with at least one unemployed member in
2008, up from 4.9 million in 2007. The proportion of families with an
unemployed member rose from 6.3 percent in 2007 to 7.8 percent in 2008.
Black and Hispanic families were more likely to have an unemployed member
(12.8 and 11.0 percent, respectively) than were white (7.1 percent) and
Asian (6.3 percent) families. Unemployment rose over the year among fami-
lies of all types. (See table 1.)
Most families with an unemployed member also have at least one family
member who is employed. Among families with an unemployed member in 2008,
70.8 percent also had an employed member, compared with 71.2 percent in
2007. Among married-couple families with an unemployed member in 2008,
82.5 percent had an employed member, little changed over the year. For
families maintained by women (no spouse present) with an unemployed mem-
ber, the proportion that also contained an employed member edged lower
from 50.5 percent in 2007 to 49.1 percent in 2008. For families main-
tained by men (no spouse present), the proportion fell from 60.7 percent
in 2007 to 57.3 percent in 2008. (See tables 1 and 3.)
Families and Employment
The share of families with an employed member was lower in 2008 (82.2
percent) than in 2007 (82.6 percent). The likelihood of having an em-
ployed family member declined over the year for white, black, and His-
panic families and was little changed for Asian families. Asian families
remained the most likely to have an employed member (89.7 percent) in 2008,
followed by Hispanic families (87.0 percent), white families (82.3 percent),
and black families (78.4 percent). (See table 1.)
In 2008, families maintained by women with no spouse present were less
likely to have an employed member (76.0 percent) than were married-couple
families (83.5 percent) or families maintained by men (84.4 percent). The
share of families with an employed member was lower in 2008 than in 2007 for
all family types. (See table 2.)
- 2 -
Both the husband and wife were employed in 51.4 percent of married-couple
families in 2008, compared with 51.7 percent in 2007. Married-couple fami-
lies in which only the wife worked accounted for 6.9 percent of all married-
couple families in 2008, compared with 6.6 percent in 2007. The husband was
the sole employed member in 19.5 percent of families in 2008, compared with
19.8 percent in 2007.
Families with Children
Just under half of all families include children (sons, daughters, step-
children, and adopted children) under age 18. Among the 35.2 million fami-
lies with children, 90.0 percent had an employed parent in 2008, down from
90.7 percent in 2007. The mother was employed in 71.4 percent of families
maintained by women in 2008, and the father was employed in 82.8 percent
of those maintained by men. Among married-couple families with children,
97.0 percent had an employed parent in 2008. Both the mother and father
were employed in 62.1 percent of married-couple families with children.
(See table 4.)
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 2008, little changed from 71.0 percent in 2007. In 2008, the participa-
tion rate for married mothers with spouse present (69.5 percent) was lower
than the rate for mothers in other marital statuses (76.0 percent). Married
mothers were about as likely to be employed as mothers in other marital stat-
uses, but their unemployment rates were lower--3.8 percent of married mothers
were unemployed in 2008, compared with 9.5 percent of mothers with other mari-
tal statuses. Unemployment rates rose over the year for mothers of all marital
statuses. (See table 5.)
Mothers with younger children are less likely to be in the labor force than
mothers with older children. In 2008, the labor force participation rate of
mothers with children under 6 years old (64.0 percent) was lower than the rate
of those whose youngest child was between 6 and 17 years old (77.3 percent).
The participation rate of mothers with infants under a year old was 56.4 per-
cent. There was little difference between the participation rates of married
mothers of infants and those with other marital statuses. However, the unem-
ployment rate for married mothers of infants, at 5.0 percent, was lower than the
rate for mothers with other marital statuses (16.5 percent). Jobless rates for
all mothers increased in 2008. (See tables 5 and 6.)
