Employment Characteristics of Families News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 24, 2024                               USDL-24-0743

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


                       EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2023


In 2023, 4.8 percent of families included an unemployed person, up from 4.7 percent in 2022,
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 83.8 million families,
80.2 percent had at least one employed member in 2023.

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 family member unemployed was unchanged at 4.0 million
in 2023. The proportion of families with an unemployed person increased by 0.1 percentage
point from the prior year to 4.8 percent. In 2023, the proportion of families with an 
unemployed person rose for White families (to 4.3 percent) and declined for Black families
(to 7.4 percent). The proportion of families with an unemployed member changed little for Asian
(4.7 percent) and Hispanic (6.8 percent) families. Black and Hispanic families remained more
likely to have an unemployed member than White or Asian families. (See table 1.)

Among families with an unemployed member in 2023, 73.0 percent also had at least one family
member employed, up by 2.1 percentage points from the prior year. The proportion of families
with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full time rose by 2.0
percentage points to 64.0 percent in 2023. Among families with an unemployed member, Black 
families remained less likely to also have at least one family member who was working in 2023
(63.1 percent of families) than White (74.8 percent), Asian (85.5 percent), and Hispanic 
(74.8 percent) families. (See table 1.)

In 2023, 3.9 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, which was less than
the shares for families maintained by women (7.4 percent) and for those families maintained by
men (7.0 percent). Among families with an unemployed member, those maintained by women 
remained less likely to also include an employed family member (57.3 percent) than either
families maintained by men (62.0 percent) or married-couple families (82.8 percent). (See
tables 2 and 3.)

Families and Employment

The share of families with at least one employed family member was little changed at 80.2
percent in 2023. The likelihood of having an employed family member was unchanged for White
families (79.4 percent) and little changed for Asian (87.4 percent) and Hispanic (87.2 
percent) families. This likelihood increased for Black families (81.2 percent) in 2023. Asian
and Hispanic families remained more likely than White and Black families to have an employed
family member. (See table 1.)

The share of families maintained by women with an employed member increased by 1.2 percentage
points to 79.7 percent in 2023, while the shares of married-couple families with an employed
family member (79.8 percent) and families maintained by men with an employed family member
(85.0 percent) changed little from the prior year. Despite this over-the-year increase in the
share of families maintained by women with an employed family member, these families remained
less likely to have an employed member than families maintained by men. The likelihood of 
including an employed member was little different between families maintained by women and 
married-couple families. (See table 2.)

Among married-couple families in 2023, both spouses were employed in 49.7 percent of families,
up from 48.9 percent in the prior year. In 2023, only one spouse was employed in 23.5 percent
of married-couple families, down from 24.5 percent in 2022. (See table 2.)

Families with Children

In 2023, 32.6 million families, or about 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 91.9
percent of families with children, up from 91.2 percent in 2022. Among married-couple families
with children, 97.6 percent had at least one employed parent in 2023, and in 67.0 percent of 
these families both parents were employed. Among families maintained by fathers, 86.5 percent
of fathers were employed, a greater share than the 76.2 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 74.0 percent in 2023, up by 1.1 percentage 
points from the prior year. The participation rate for fathers with children under age 18 rose
from 92.9 percent in 2022 to 93.4 percent in 2023. (See table 5.)

The participation rate for married mothers increased by 1.6 percentage points from the prior
year to 72.7 percent in 2023. The rates for married fathers (94.1 percent) and for fathers and
mothers with other marital statuses (89.0 percent and 77.1 percent, respectively) were little
changed from the previous year. Married mothers remained less likely to participate in the
labor force in 2023 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 people 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 2023, 68.9 percent of mothers with children under age 6 
participated in the labor force compared with 77.8 percent of mothers whose youngest child
was ages 6 to 17. Conversely, fathers with children under age 6 were more likely to 
participate in the labor force than those whose youngest child was ages 6 to 17 (94.6 percent
versus 92.4 percent). (See table 5.)

In 2023, the unemployment rate for mothers decreased by 0.4 percentage point from the prior
year to 3.0 percent, and the rate for fathers was unchanged at 2.2 percent. The unemployment
rate for married mothers remained considerably lower than the rate for mothers with other
marital statuses in 2023--2.0 percent compared with 5.2 percent. Married fathers also continued
to have a lower unemployment rate than fathers with other marital statuses (1.8 percent versus
4.4 percent). Among mothers who had children under age 3, the unemployment rate for those with
other marital statuses was about four times higher than that for married mothers (8.3 percent
versus 2.1 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)

Employed fathers remained more likely to work full time than employed mothers in 2023--95.6
percent compared with 80.1 percent. Among employed mothers, those with older children remained
more likely to work full time than those with younger children. In 2023, 82.0 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. However, employed fathers of older and younger children
were about equally likely to work full time: 95.6 percent of those with older children and
95.7 percent of those with younger children worked full time. (See table 5.)

Technical Note 

   The estimates in this news 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.

   If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 
7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Definitions

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

   Householder. The householder is the family reference person. This is the person
(or one of the people) 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 people 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 people 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 news 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 people 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 people who are never 
married; widowed; divorced; separated; and married, spouse absent. Separated 
includes people 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 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.

   Parents. Data on parents refer to people living in a household with their
own children under age 18. (This includes those living with biological,
step-, and adopted children.)
   
   Employed. Employed people 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. People 
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 people 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. People 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 people 
classified as employed or unemployed.

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

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

   Unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people
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 people
refer to those in opposite-sex and same-sex marriages. Prior to 2020, 
estimates of the number of married people 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 people 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. 

   In addition, the data presented in this news 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.