Table 7. Employment status of women by presence and age of youngest child, March 1975‐2008 : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Current Population Survey > Home

Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (2009 Edition)

(Numbers in thousands)

Table 7. Employment status of women by presence and age of youngest child, March 1975-2008
Year	Civilian labor force		Employed	Unemployed
Year	Total	Percent of population	Employed	Total	Percent of labor force
With children under age 18
1975	14,616	47.4	13,069	1,548	11.0
1976	15,073	48.8	13,725	1,346	8.9
1977	15,669	50.8	14,276	1,393	8.9
1978	16,385	53.0	15,142	1,242	7.6
1979	16,883	54.5	15,624	1,259	7.7
1980	17,790	56.6	16,526	1,264	7.1
1981	18,422	58.1	16,952	1,471	8.0
1982	18,744	58.5	16,854	1,890	10.1
1983	18,924	58.9	16,792	2,131	11.3
1984	19,555	60.5	17,782	1,773	9.1
1985	20,041	62.1	18,306	1,735	8.7
1986	20,620	62.8	18,922	1,698	8.2
1987	21,422	64.7	19,798	1,624	7.6
1988	21,545	65.1	20,141	1,404	6.5
1989	21,936	65.7	20,647	1,289	5.9
1990	22,196	66.7	20,865	1,331	6.0
1991	22,327	66.6	20,774	1,552	7.0
1992	22,756	67.2	21,052	1,704	7.5
1993	23,063	66.9	21,521	1,541	6.7
1994	24,191	68.4	22,467	1,724	7.1
1995	24,695	69.7	23,195	1,500	6.1
1996	24,720	70.2	23,386	1,334	5.4
1997	25,604	72.1	24,082	1,522	5.9
1998	25,647	72.3	24,209	1,438	5.6
1999	25,472	72.1	24,307	1,165	4.6
2000	25,795	72.9	24,693	1,102	4.3
2001	26,269	72.7	25,030	1,239	4.7
2002	26,140	72.2	24,612	1,529	5.8
2003	26,202	71.7	24,598	1,603	6.1
2004	25,913	70.7	24,413	1,501	5.8
2005	25,941	70.5	24,564	1,377	5.3
2006	26,009	70.6	24,728	1,281	4.9
2007	26,834	71.3	25,646	1,188	4.4
2008	25,930	71.2	24,637	1,294	5.0
With children ages 6 to 17, none younger
1975	8,917	54.9	8,218	700	7.9
1976	9,388	56.2	8,769	621	6.6
1977	10,040	58.3	9,389	650	6.5
1978	10,401	60.0	9,845	556	5.3
1979	10,646	61.6	10,030	615	5.8
1980	11,252	64.3	10,640	612	5.4
1981	11,490	65.5	10,725	765	6.7
1982	11,377	65.8	10,440	936	8.2
1983	11,340	66.3	10,303	1,037	9.1
1984	11,538	68.1	10,739	799	6.9
1985	11,826	69.9	10,984	842	7.1
1986	12,075	70.4	11,320	756	6.3
1987	12,438	72.0	11,661	778	6.3
1988	12,683	73.3	12,042	641	5.1
1989	12,800	74.2	12,168	632	4.9
1990	12,799	74.7	12,133	666	5.2
1991	12,691	74.4	12,017	674	5.3
1992	13,183	75.9	12,391	793	6.0
1993	13,441	75.4	12,757	684	5.1
1994	13,863	76.0	13,074	789	5.7
1995	14,300	76.4	13,608	691	4.8
1996	14,427	77.2	13,794	633	4.4
1997	14,993	78.1	14,282	711	4.7
1998	15,028	78.4	14,370	658	4.4
1999	15,150	78.5	14,633	516	3.4
2000	15,479	79.0	14,931	549	3.5
2001	15,839	79.4	15,220	619	3.9
2002	15,948	78.6	15,171	777	4.9
2003	15,993	78.7	15,166	828	5.2
2004	15,782	77.5	15,006	776	4.9
2005	15,594	76.9	14,930	663	4.3
2006	15,579	76.9	14,949	630	4.0
2007	15,940	77.7	15,341	599	3.8
2008	15,479	77.5	14,842	636	4.1
With children under age 6
1975	5,699	39.0	4,851	848	14.9
1976	5,684	40.1	4,957	727	12.8
1977	5,629	41.2	4,887	742	13.2
1978	5,983	44.0	5,297	687	11.5
1979	6,238	45.7	5,594	644	10.3
1980	6,538	46.8	5,886	652	10.0
1981	6,933	48.9	6,227	706	10.2
1982	7,367	49.9	6,414	953	12.9
1983	7,583	50.5	6,489	1,094	14.4
1984	8,017	52.1	7,043	974	12.1
1985	8,215	53.5	7,322	893	10.9
1986	8,545	54.4	7,602	943	11.0
1987	8,983	56.7	8,137	846	9.4
1988	8,862	56.1	8,099	763	8.6
1989	9,136	56.7	8,478	657	7.2
1990	9,397	58.2	8,732	664	7.1
1991	9,636	58.4	8,758	878	9.1
1992	9,573	58.0	8,662	911	9.5
1993	9,621	57.9	8,764	857	8.9
1994	10,328	60.3	9,394	935	9.0
1995	10,395	62.3	9,587	809	7.8
1996	10,293	62.3	9,592	701	6.8
1997	10,610	65.0	9,800	810	7.6
1998	10,619	65.2	9,839	780	7.3
1999	10,322	64.4	9,674	648	6.3
2000	10,316	65.3	9,763	553	5.4
2001	10,430	64.4	9,810	620	5.9
2002	10,193	64.1	9,441	752	7.4
2003	10,209	62.9	9,433	776	7.6
2004	10,131	62.2	9,407	724	7.1
2005	10,347	62.6	9,634	714	6.9
2006	10,430	63.0	9,779	651	6.2
2007	10,894	63.5	10,305	589	5.4
2008	10,452	63.6	9,794	657	6.3
With children under age 3
1975	2,824	34.3	2,326	500	17.7
1976	2,702	34.1	2,285	418	15.5
1977	2,795	35.4	2,371	424	15.2
1978	3,179	39.4	2,768	411	12.9
1979	3,380	41.1	2,979	401	11.9
1980	3,565	41.9	3,167	398	11.2
1981	3,826	44.3	3,380	446	11.7
1982	4,133	45.6	3,542	591	14.3
1983	4,233	46.0	3,551	682	16.1
1984	4,401	47.6	3,839	562	12.8
1985	4,601	49.5	4,089	513	11.1
1986	4,786	50.8	4,227	559	11.7
1987	5,064	52.9	4,570	494	9.8
1988	4,947	52.4	4,477	470	9.5
1989	5,053	52.4	4,671	381	7.5
1990	5,216	53.6	4,823	393	7.5
1991	5,417	54.5	4,868	550	10.1
1992	5,329	54.5	4,776	553	10.4
1993	5,349	53.9	4,857	492	9.2
1994	5,724	57.1	5,165	559	9.8
1995	5,650	58.7	5,172	478	8.5
1996	5,619	59.0	5,222	397	7.1
1997	5,839	61.8	5,366	473	8.1
1998	5,882	62.2	5,454	428	7.3
1999	5,645	60.7	5,285	359	6.4
2000	5,670	61.0	5,350	320	5.6
2001	5,743	60.7	5,350	393	6.8
2002	5,600	60.5	5,160	440	7.9
2003	5,568	58.7	5,112	456	8.2
2004	5,401	57.3	4,983	417	7.7
2005	5,704	58.9	5,299	405	7.1
2006	5,842	59.9	5,458	384	6.6
2007	6,006	60.1	5,679	327	5.5
2008	5,754	59.6	5,380	374	6.5
With no children under age 18
1975	22,365	45.1	20,381	1,984	8.9
1976	23,327	45.7	21,389	1,938	8.3
1977	24,385	46.4	22,348	2,037	8.4
1978	25,362	47.0	23,631	1,731	6.8
1979	26,962	48.6	25,285	1,677	6.2
1980	27,144	48.1	25,375	1,769	6.5
1981	27,992	48.7	25,934	2,059	7.4
1982	28,351	48.6	26,041	2,311	8.2
1983	28,856	48.7	26,373	2,483	8.6
1984	29,684	49.3	27,652	2,032	6.8
1985	30,850	50.4	28,814	2,036	6.6
1986	31,112	50.5	29,107	2,005	6.4
1987	31,538	50.5	29,688	1,850	5.9
1988	32,490	51.2	30,911	1,580	4.9
1989	33,255	51.9	31,761	1,495	4.5
1990	33,942	52.3	32,391	1,551	4.6
1991	34,047	52.0	32,167	1,880	5.5
1992	34,487	52.3	32,481	2,006	5.8
1993	34,495	52.1	32,476	2,020	5.9
1994	35,455	53.1	33,345	2,110	6.0
1995	35,843	52.9	34,054	1,789	5.0
1996	36,509	53.0	34,698	1,811	5.0
1997	37,295	53.6	35,572	1,723	4.6
1998	38,253	54.1	36,680	1,573	4.1
1999	39,314	54.3	37,587	1,727	4.4
2000	40,142	54.8	38,408	1,733	4.3
2001	40,996	54.4	39,363	1,633	4.0
2002	41,278	54.0	39,038	2,241	5.4
2003	42,039	54.1	39,667	2,372	5.6
2004	42,289	53.8	40,000	2,289	5.4
2005	42,677	53.5	40,570	2,107	4.9
2006	43,392	53.6	41,440	1,952	4.5
2007	44,039	53.9	42,279	1,760	4.0
2008	45,585	54.3	43,417	2,168	4.8
NOTE: Children are "own" children and include sons, daughters, stepchildren, and adopted children. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and other related and unrelated children. Data for 1994 and subsequent years are not directly comparable with data for 1993 and earlier years because of the introduction of a major redesign of the Current Population Survey. SOURCE: 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Current Population Survey, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.