Employment Characteristics of Families News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 20, 2022 		                USDL-22-0673

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps 
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


		     EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2021


In 2021, 6.7 percent of families included an unemployed person, down from 9.8 percent in
2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 83.2 million
families, 78.5 percent had at least one employed member in 2021.

These data on employment, unemployment, and family relationships are collected as part
of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 households. 
Data in this news 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 with and without children under
age 18. For further information, see the Technical Note in this news release.

Families and Unemployment

The number of families with at least one member unemployed fell by 2.5 million to 5.6
million in 2021. The proportion of families with an unemployed person, at 6.7 percent,
fell by 3.1 percentage points from the prior year but remained above its 2019 value of
4.9 percent. In 2021, the proportion of families with an unemployed person declined 
for White (to 6.0 percent of families), Black (10.3 percent), Asian (7.7 percent), and
Hispanic (10.1 percent) families. Black and Hispanic families remained more likely to
have an unemployed member than White or Asian families. (See table 1.)

In 2021, among families with an unemployed member, 67.4 percent also had at least one
family member employed, little changed from the prior year. The proportion of families
with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full time fell 
by 1.4 percentage points to 58.5 percent in 2021. In 2019, prior to the coronavirus 
(COVID-19) pandemic, 62.4 percent of families with an unemployed member had at least
one family member working full time. Among families with an unemployed member, Black 
families remained less likely to also have at least one family member who was working
in 2021 (56.7 percent of families) than White (69.9 percent), Asian (75.6 percent), 
and Hispanic (68.4 percent) families. (See table 1.)

In 2021, 5.5 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, which was 
less than the shares for families maintained by women (9.8 percent) and for families
maintained by men (10.5 percent). Among families with an unemployed member, those 
maintained by women remained less likely to also have an employed family member 
(48.7 percent) than families maintained by men and married-couple families (56.4
percent and 78.5 percent, respectively). (See tables 2 and 3.)

Families and Employment

In 2021, 78.5 percent of families had at least one employed family member, up from 
78.2 percent in 2020 but below the 2019 share of 81.2 percent. From 2020 to 2021, the
likelihood of having an employed family member increased for Black (to 76.6 percent 
of families), Asian (86.2 percent), and Hispanic (85.0 percent) families, but changed
little for White families (78.1 percent). Black families were the least likely to 
have an employed family member in 2021. (See table 1.)

Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member 
(75.7 percent) in 2021 than families maintained by men (82.4 percent) or married-
couple families (78.7 percent). Among married-couple families, both spouses were
employed in 46.8 percent of families, up from 45.5 percent in the prior year. In 
2021, only one spouse was employed in 25.3 percent of married-couple families, down
from 26.7 percent in 2020. (See table 2.)

Families with Children

In 2021, 32.8 million families, or two-fifths of all families, included children
under age 18. (Children are biological, step-, or adopted children living in the 
household who are under age 18. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, 
other related and unrelated children, and children not living in the household.) At
least one parent was employed in 89.1 percent of families with children, up from 
88.5 percent in 2020 but below its 2019 value of 91.4 percent. Among married-couple
families with children, 96.5 percent had at least one employed parent in 2021, and
in 62.3 percent of these families both parents were employed. Among families 
maintained by fathers, 81.7 percent of fathers were employed, a greater share than
the 71.2 percent of mothers who were employed in families maintained by mothers. 
(See tables 1 and 4.)

Parents

The labor force participation rate--the percent of the population working or looking
for work--for all mothers with children under age 18 was 71.2 percent in 2021, 
unchanged from the prior year but down from 72.3 percent in 2019. The participation
rate for fathers with children under age 18, at 92.5 percent in 2021, was little
changed from 2020 (92.3 percent) but down from 2019 (93.3 percent). (See table 5.)

The participation rate for married fathers increased by 0.2 percentage point from the
prior year to 93.5 percent in 2021, while the rates for married mothers (69.3 percent)
and for mothers and fathers with other marital statuses (75.3 percent and 87.0 percent,
respectively) showed little change. Married mothers remained less likely to participate
in the labor force in 2021 than mothers with other marital statuses. By contrast, 
married fathers remained more likely to participate in the labor force than fathers with
other marital statuses. (Other marital status includes persons who are never married; 
widowed; divorced; separated; and married, spouse absent.) (See table 5.)

Mothers of younger children remained less likely to participate in the labor force than
mothers with older children. In 2021, 65.6 percent of mothers with children under age 6
participated in the labor force compared with 75.5 percent of mothers whose youngest 
child was age 6 to 17. By contrast, fathers with children under age 6 were more likely
to participate in the labor force than those whose youngest child was age 6 to 17 (93.9
percent versus 91.5 percent). (See table 5.)

In 2021, the unemployment rate for mothers decreased by 2.5 percentage points from the 
prior year to 5.0 percent, and the rate for fathers decreased by 1.8 percentage points 
to 3.8 percent. The unemployment rate for married mothers remained considerably lower 
than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses--3.3 percent compared with 8.5
percent in 2021. Married fathers also continued to have a lower unemployment rate, at
3.1 percent, than fathers with other marital statuses, at 8.0 percent. Among mothers 
who had children under age 3, the unemployment rate for those who were married was 
about one-third the rate for mothers with other marital statuses (3.6 percent versus 
11.2 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)

Employed fathers remained more likely to work full time than employed mothers in 
2021--95.5 percent compared with 79.6 percent. Among employed mothers, those with older
children remained more likely to work full time than those with younger children. In 
2021, 81.2 percent of employed mothers with children ages 6 to 17 worked full time 
compared with 77.2 percent of mothers with children under age 6. Among employed fathers,
95.7 percent of those with older children and 95.3 percent of those with younger 
children worked full time. (See table 5.)

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.

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7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Definitions

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

   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 their
relationship to the householder. The race and Hispanic ethnicity of the family is
determined by that of the householder.

   Family. A family is a group of two or more persons residing together who are
related by birth, marriage, or adoption; all such individuals are considered 
members of one family. The count of families is for "primary" families only. A 
primary family consists of a householder and all other persons related to and
residing with the householder. Sub-families are excluded from the count of 
families. A sub-family is a family that does not maintain their own household,
such as a married couple living in the home of a friend and their family. In this
example, the report would include only one family (the householder's or primary
family), not two.

   Families include those with and without children under age 18. Families are 
further categorized as follows:

   --Married-couple families refer to opposite-sex and same-sex married couples
residing together and any of their family members residing in the household.

   --Families maintained by women or men are made up of householders residing 
with one or more family members but no spouse of either sex present. Unmarried 
domestic partners of either sex may or may not be present in the household.

   This release presents data for two marital status categories, defined below.
Marital status is based on a person's status at the time of the survey.

   Total married, spouse present. Married, spouse present, includes persons in
either opposite-sex or same-sex marriages 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. Other marital status includes persons who are never 
married; widowed; divorced; separated; and married, spouse absent. Separated 
includes persons with legal separations, those living apart with intentions of 
obtaining a divorce, and other persons permanently or temporarily separated 
because of marital discord. Married, spouse absent, includes married persons 
living apart because either a 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 biological, step-, 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. Children not living in the household are also not 
included.

   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; or (c) 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.

   Full-time workers. Full-time workers are those who usually work 35 hours or
more per week at all jobs.

   Part-time workers. Part-time workers are those who usually work fewer than
35 hours per week at all jobs.

   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.

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

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

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

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 are available at 
www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.

Comparability of the estimates

   Effective with data for 2020, estimates of the number of married persons
refer to those in opposite-sex and same-sex marriages. Prior to 2020, 
estimates of the number of married persons referred to those in opposite-sex
marriages only. The definition of families incorporated this change by 
expanding the definition of married-couple families to include same-sex 
married couples. This new classification resulted in a larger estimate of 
the number of persons who are married with a spouse present. It also resulted
in a larger estimate of the number of married-couple families and the total 
number of families. The 2019 estimates mentioned in this news release are 
revised data that incorporate the new classification of married persons. 
These revised 2019 estimates, as published in the "Employment Characteristics
of Families--2020" news release, do not match those originally published in 
the "Employment Characteristics of Families--2019" news release or in the BLS
online database. Additional information about the classification change is
available from the Census Bureau at 
www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2019/demo/SEHSD-WP-2018-30.pdf.

   In addition, 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.