For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Friday, April 25, 2014                           USDL-14-0658
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 • cpsinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/cps 
Media contact:         (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov


                          EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2013


In 2013, 9.6 percent of families included an unemployed person, down from 10.5 percent
in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 80.4
million families, 80.0 percent had at least one employed member in 2013.

These data on employment, unemployment, and family relationships are collected as part
of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000
households. Data in this release are annual averages. Families are classified either
as married-couple families or as families maintained by women or men without spouses
present. Unless otherwise noted, families include those without children as well as
those with children under age 18. For further information, see the Technical Note.

Families and Unemployment

The number of families with at least one member unemployed decreased to 7.7 million in
2013 from 8.4 million in 2012. The proportion of families with an unemployed member
decreased to 9.6 percent in 2013. Black and Hispanic families remained more likely to
have an unemployed member in 2013 (16.0 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively) than
white and Asian families (8.5 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively). (See table 1.)

Two-thirds (67.6 percent) of families with an unemployed member in 2013 also had at
least one family member who was employed, essentially unchanged from 2012. Among
families with an unemployed family member, 4.5 million, or 58.0 percent, also had at
least one family member who was employed full time. (See table 1.)

Among married-couple families with an unemployed member, the proportion of families with
at least one employed family member was 79.4 percent in 2013, down from 80.2 percent in
2012. Among families maintained by men (no spouse present) with an unemployed member,
56.4 percent had an employed member in 2013; for families maintained by women (no spouse
present), the proportion was 47.4 percent. Both proportions increased from 2012. (See
table 3.)

Families and Employment

The share of families with an employed member was unchanged at 80.0 percent in 2013. The
likelihood of having an employed family member rose in 2013 for Asian families (to 88.8
percent) and for Hispanic families (to 85.1 percent). The likelihood for white and black
families showed little or no change (80.1 percent and 75.7 percent, respectively).
(See table 1.)

In 2013, families maintained by women with no spouse present remained less likely to have
an employed member (73.3 percent) than married-couple families (81.5 percent) or families
maintained by men with no spouse present (81.7 percent). Both the husband and wife were
employed in 47.4 percent of married-couple families in 2013. The husband was the only
worker in 20.1 percent of married-couple families, and the wife was the only worker in
7.8 percent of these families. (See table 2.)

Families with Children

In 2013, about 43 percent of all families included children (sons, daughters, step-
children, or adopted children) under age 18. Among the 34.4 million families with
children, 88.2 percent had at least one employed parent in 2013. The mother was
employed in 68.2 percent of families maintained by women with no spouse present in
2013, and the father was employed in 81.2 percent of families maintained by men with
no spouse present. Among married-couple families with children, 96.3 percent had at
least one employed parent in 2013. The share of married-couple families with children
where both parents worked was 59.1 percent. (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 age 18 was 69.9 percent in 2013. The
participation rate for married mothers with a spouse present (67.8 percent) remained
lower in 2013 than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses (74.2 percent).
(Other marital status refers to persons who never married or are widowed, divorced,
separated, or married but living apart from their spouse.) Married mothers were about
as likely to be employed as mothers with other marital statuses, with employment-
population ratios of 64.5 percent and 65.3 percent, respectively. However, the
unemployment rate of married mothers was substantially lower--4.8 percent, compared
with 12.0 percent for mothers with other marital statuses. (See table 5.)

Mothers with younger children are less likely to be in the labor force than mothers
with older children. In 2013, 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 (74.7 percent). The participation rate of
mothers with infants under a year old was 57.3 percent. Among mothers with infants,
there was essentially no difference in the participation rate of married mothers
(57.5 percent) and those with other marital statuses (56.7 percent). However, the
unemployment rate for married mothers of infants, at 4.8 percent, was considerably
lower than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses, at 19.0 percent. (See
tables 5 and 6.)

 _____________________________________________________________________________________
|                                                                                     |
|                Changes to estimation methodology for tables 5 and 6                 |
|                                                                                     |
| Estimates in tables 5 and 6 of this release have been created using a different     |
| estimation methodology than was used in past versions of this annual release.       |
| This new methodology results in higher estimates of mothers and fathers. It was     |
| implemented to provide more accurate counts of the number of people with children,  |
| particularly among those classified in the category "other marital status." Because |
| of this change, the estimates in tables 5 and 6 of this release are not strictly    |
| comparable with data for previous years. The change also was applied to data for    |
| 2012 in tables 5 and 6; therefore, 2012 estimates presented in these tables do not  |
| match those published in the "Employment Characteristics of Families--2012" news    |
| release.                                                                            |
|_____________________________________________________________________________________|

Technical Note

   The estimates in this release are based on annual average data from the Current
Population Survey (CPS). The CPS, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for
the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is a monthly survey of about 60,000 eligible
households that provides information on the labor force status, demographics, and
other characteristics of the nation's civilian noninstitutional population age 16
and over.

   The data presented in this release are not strictly comparable with data for
earlier years due to the introduction of updated population estimates, or controls,
used in the CPS. The population controls are updated each year in January to reflect
the latest information about population change. Additional information is available from
the BLS website at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.

   Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals
upon request: Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Reliability of the estimates

   Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When
a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the
sample estimates may differ from the true population values they represent. The exact
difference, or sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample selected, and
this variability is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a
90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will
differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the true population value because of
sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of
confidence.

   The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error can occur for
many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the population, inability
to obtain information for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of
respondents to provide correct information, and errors made in the collection or
processing of the data.

   Information about the reliability of data from the CPS and guidance on estimating standard
errors is available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.

Definitions

   Definitions of the principal terms used in this release are presented below.

   Family. A family is a group of two or more persons residing together who are related
by birth, marriage, or adoption. The count of families is for "primary" families only,
that is, the householder and all other persons related to and residing with the householder.
Families are classified either as married-couple families or as families maintained by
women or men without spouses. Families include those without children as well as those with
children under 18.

   Householder. The householder is the family reference person. This is the person (or one
of the persons) in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented. The relationship of other
individuals in the household is defined in terms of relationship to the householder. The
race or ethnicity of the family is determined by that of the householder. 

   Married, spouse present; other marital status. These terms denote the marital status of
individuals at the time of interview. Married, spouse present, refers to husbands and wives
living together in the same household, even though one may be temporarily absent on business,
on vacation, on a visit, in a hospital, or for other reasons. Other marital status includes
persons who are never-married; married, spouse absent; separated; widowed; or divorced. 
Separated includes persons with legal separations, those living apart with intentions of 
obtaining a divorce, and other people permanently or temporarily separated because of marital
discord. Married, spouse absent, includes married people living apart because either the 
husband or wife was employed and living at a considerable distance from home, was serving 
away from home in the Armed Forces, had moved to another area, or had a different place of
residence for any other reason except separation as defined above.

   Children. Data on children refer to own children under age 18 that live in the household.
Included are sons, daughters, step-children, and adopted children of the husband, wife, or
person maintaining the family. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, other related
children, and all unrelated children living in the household.

   Employed. Employed persons are all those who, during the survey reference week, (a) did
any work at all as paid employees; (b) worked in their own business, profession, or on
their own farm; (c) or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated
by a member of the family. Persons who were temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness,
vacation, labor disputes, or another reason also are counted as employed.

   Unemployed. The unemployed are persons who had no employment during the reference week,
were available for work at that time, and had made specific efforts to find employment
sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting
to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not be looking for work to
be classified as unemployed.

   Civilian labor force. The civilian labor force comprises all persons classified as
employed or unemployed.

   Unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a percent of the
 civilian labor force.

   Labor force participation rate. The labor force participation rate is the labor force as
a percent of the population.

   Employment-population ratio. The employment-population ratio is the employed as a percent
of the population.