Employment Characteristics of Families Summary

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.)