Employment Characteristics of Families News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 21, 2021 		            USDL-21-0695

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

(NOTE: BLS reissued this news release on December 20, 2021, to correct 2019 and 2020
data on the number and percent of total married-couple families with only one spouse
employed. The incorrect data appeared in the text of the news release, in table 2 of
the news release, and in the online database.)


		     EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2020


In 2020, 9.8 percent of families included an unemployed person, twice the figure of 4.9
percent in 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The increase in
unemployment among families reflects the effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
on the labor market. Of the nation's 83.1 million families, 78.2 percent had at least
one employed member in 2020. 

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 increased by 4.0 million to
8.1 million in 2020. The proportion of families with an unemployed person, at 9.8 
percent, doubled from the previous year, when it was 4.9 percent. In 2020, the 
proportion of families with an unemployed person increased for White (9.0 percent of
families), Black (13.4 percent), Asian (10.9 percent), and Hispanic (14.3 percent) 
families. White families were the least likely to have an unemployed member, and 
Hispanic families were the most likely. In 2019, by contrast, Asian families were the 
least likely to have an unemployed person, and Black families were the most likely. 
(See table 1.)

In 2020, among families with an unemployed member, 67.6 percent also had at least one
family member employed, down from 71.3 percent in the prior year. The proportion of 
families with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full 
time fell by 2.5 percentage points to 59.9 percent in 2020. Among families with an 
unemployed member, Black families remained less likely to also have at least one family
member who was working (57.1 percent) than White (69.9 percent), Asian (71.6 percent),
and Hispanic (67.7 percent) families. (See table 1.)

In 2020, 8.6 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, less than the
corresponding percentages of families maintained by women or families maintained by men
(12.7 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively). Among families with an unemployed member,
those maintained by women remained less likely to also have an employed family member 
(49.9 percent) than families maintained by men and married-couple families (55.0 percent
and 76.2 percent, respectively). (See tables 2 and 3.)

Families and Employment

In 2020, 78.2 percent of families had at least one employed family member, down from 
81.2 percent in the prior year. From 2019 to 2020, the likelihood of having an employed 
family member decreased for White (78.0 percent of families), Black (75.7 percent), 
Asian (84.7 percent), and Hispanic (84.1 percent) families. (See table 1.)

Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member (74.8 
percent) in 2020 than families maintained by men (81.1 percent) or married-couple 
families (78.7 percent). Among married-couple families, both spouses were employed in 
45.5 percent of families, down from 49.7 percent in the prior year. In 2020, only one 
spouse was employed in 26.7 percent of married-couple families, up from 25.2 percent in
2019. (See table 2.)

Families with Children

In 2020, 33.0 million families, or two-fifths of all families, included children under
age 18. (Children are sons, daughters, step-children, 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 88.5 percent of families with children, down from 91.4 percent
in the previous year. Among married-couple families with children, 95.3 percent had at
least one employed parent in 2020, and 59.8 percent had both parents employed. Among 
families maintained by fathers, 79.6 percent of fathers were employed, a greater share
than the 71.0 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 women with children under age 18 was 71.2 percent in 2020, down from
72.3 percent in the prior year. The participation rate for fathers with children under
age 18, at 92.3 percent in 2020, also declined from the previous year (93.3 percent). 
This decline in labor force participation among parents, especially mothers, likely 
reflects not only pandemic-related job losses, but also the shift of many schools to 
distance learning and the temporary closure of many childcare facilities during the
pandemic. (See table 5.)

Participation rates declined from the prior year for married mothers and fathers, and 
for mothers and fathers with other marital statuses. Married mothers remained less 
likely to participate in the labor force in 2020, at 69.2 percent, than mothers with 
other marital statuses (75.9 percent). In contrast, married fathers remained more 
likely to participate in the labor force (93.3 percent) than fathers with other marital
statuses (86.3 percent). (Other marital status includes persons who are never married;
widowed; divorced; separated; and married, spouse absent.) (See table 5.)

In 2020, mothers of older children remained more likely to participate in the labor 
force than mothers with younger children. The participation rate for mothers with
children under age 6, at 65.8 percent, was lower than that of mothers whose youngest 
child was age 6 to 17, at 75.4 percent. By comparison, 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 (93.4 percent versus 91.4 percent). (See table 5.)

In 2020, the unemployment rate for mothers increased by 4.0 percentage points from the
prior year to 7.5 percent, and the rate for fathers increased by 3.4 percentage points
to 5.6 percent. The unemployment rate for married mothers remained considerably lower 
than for mothers with other marital statuses--6.1 percent, compared with 10.4 percent.
Married fathers also continued to have a lower unemployment rate, at 4.8 percent, than
fathers with other marital statuses, at 10.6 percent. Among mothers who had children 
under age 3, the unemployment rate of mothers who were married was less than half that
of those with other marital statuses (6.1 percent versus 12.8 percent). (See tables 5 
and 6.) 

Employed fathers remained more likely to work full time in 2020 than employed mothers;
95.6 percent of employed fathers worked full time, compared with 79.7 percent of 
employed mothers. The likelihood of working full time declined by 0.5 percentage point
from the previous year for employed fathers, while it increased by 1.2 percentage 
points over the year for employed mothers. The increase in the percentage of working 
mothers who were employed full time from 2019 to 2020 reflects the nature of pandemic-
related job losses in 2020, which were disproportionately large among mothers who 
worked part time. 

Among employed mothers, those with older children remained more likely to work full 
time than those with younger children. In 2020, 81.2 percent of employed mothers with
children ages 6 to 17 worked full time, compared with 77.5 percent of mothers with 
children under age 6. Employed fathers with older and younger children were about 
equally likely to work full time, at 95.7 percent and 95.4 percent, respectively. 
(See table 5.)


 _______________________________________________________________________________________
|											|
|                Change in classification by marital status and family type             |
|											|
| Estimates in this news release reflect a change in the classification of persons in 	|
| same-sex marriages. In this news release, estimates of the number of married persons 	|
| refer to those in opposite-sex and same-sex marriages. In prior news releases, 	|
| estimates of the number of married persons referred to those in opposite-sex 		|
| marriages only. The definition of families incorporates this change by expanding the  |
| definition of married-couple families to include same-sex married couples. 		|
|											|
| This new classification results in a larger estimate of the number of persons who are |
| married with a spouse present. It also results in a larger estimate of the number of  |
| married-couple families and the total number of families. Estimates of same-sex 	|
| married-couple families are not displayed in this news release. BLS continues to 	|
| evaluate these data. 									|
|											|
| Family estimates and estimates by marital status for 2020 and 2019 in this news	|
| release incorporate this change. Therefore, 2019 estimates presented in these tables  |
| do not match those published in the "Employment Characteristics of Families--2019" 	|
| news release and in the BLS online database. 						|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________|

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.

   Estimates in this news release reflect a change in the classification of persons in
same-sex marriages. In this news release, estimates of the number of married persons 
refer to those in opposite-sex and same-sex marriages. In prior news releases, 
estimates of the number of married persons referred to those in opposite-sex marriages
only. The definition of families incorporates this change by expanding the definition
of married-couple families to include same-sex married couples. This new classification
results in a larger estimate of the number of persons who are married with a spouse 
present. It also results in a larger estimate of the number of married-couple families 
and the total number of families. The 2019 estimates presented in this news release do
not match those published in the "Employment Characteristics of Families--2019" news 
release and 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.

   Upon request, the information in this release will be made available to individuals 
who are sensory impaired: 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 are available at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.

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 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; 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 labor force 
as a percent of the population.

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

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