Employment Characteristics of Families Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 23, 2025                                     USDL-25-0564

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


                         EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2024 


In 2024, 5.3 percent of families included an unemployed person, up from 4.8 percent in 2023,
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 84.3 million families,
80.1 percent had at least one employed member in 2024.

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

In 2024, the number of families with at least one unemployed family member increased by
485,000 to 4.5 million. The proportion of families with an unemployed person increased by 0.5
percentage point from the prior year to 5.3 percent. The proportion of families with an
unemployed person rose for White families (to 4.8 percent), Black families (to 7.9 percent),
Asian families (to 5.1 percent), and Hispanic families (to 7.8 percent) in 2024. 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 2024, 72.0 percent also had at least one employed
family member, down by 1.0 percentage point from the prior year. The proportion of families
with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full time changed
little, at 63.1 percent, in 2024. Among families with an unemployed member, Black families
remained less likely to also have at least one family member who was working in 2024 (60.2
percent of families) than White (74.4 percent), Asian (82.4 percent), and Hispanic (73.7
percent) families. (See table 1.)

In 2024, 4.2 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, which was less than
the shares for families maintained by women (8.2 percent) and for families maintained by men
(8.4 percent). Among families with an unemployed member, both those maintained by women and
those maintained by men were less likely to also include an employed family member (56.8
percent and 59.0 percent, respectively) than married-couple families (82.6 percent). (See
tables 2 and 3.)

Families and Employment

The share of families with at least one employed family member was little changed at 80.1
percent in 2024. The likelihood of having an employed family member changed little for White
(79.3 percent), Asian (87.5 percent), and Hispanic (87.1 percent) families. This likelihood
decreased by 1.2 percentage points for Black families (to 80.0 percent) in 2024. White
families were the least likely to have an employed family member. (See table 1.)

The share of families with an employed member changed little for married-couple families (79.6
percent), families maintained by women (79.6 percent), and families maintained by men (84.8
percent) in 2024. Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member
than families maintained by men. Families maintained by women and married-couple families were
equally likely to include an employed member. (See table 2.)

In 2024, both spouses were employed in 49.6 percent of married-couple families, little
different from the prior year. Only one spouse was employed in 23.4 percent of married-couple
families. (See table 2.)

Families with Children 

In 2024, 32.7 million families, or nearly two-fifths of all families, included children under
age 18. (Included are biological, step-, or adopted children living in the household who are
under age 18. Nieces, nephews, grandchildren, other related and unrelated children, and
children not living in the household are not included.) At least one parent was employed in
91.4 percent of families with children, down from 91.9 percent in 2023. Among married-couple
families with children, 97.5 percent had at least one employed parent in 2024, and in 66.5
percent of these families both parents were employed. Among families maintained by fathers,
84.8 percent of fathers were employed, down from 86.5 percent in 2023. This was a greater 
share than the 75.4 percent of mothers who were employed in families maintained by mothers, 
little changed from the prior year. (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 2024, unchanged from the prior
year. The participation rate for fathers with children under age 18 changed little at 93.5
percent in 2024. (See table 5.)

The participation rates for married mothers and for married fathers (72.3 percent and 94.3
percent, respectively) changed little in 2024. The rates for mothers and fathers with other
marital statuses (77.7 percent and 89.4 percent, respectively) were also little changed from
the previous year. Married mothers remained less likely to participate in the labor force in
2024 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 2024, 68.3 percent of mothers with children under age 6
participated in the labor force compared with 78.0 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 (94.9 percent versus 92.5
percent). (See table 5.)

In 2024, the unemployment rate for mothers increased by 0.6 percentage point from the prior
year to 3.6 percent, and the rate for fathers increased by 0.2 percentage point from the prior
year to 2.4 percent. The unemployment rate for married mothers remained considerably lower
than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses in 2024--2.4 percent compared with 6.1
percent. Married fathers also continued to have a lower unemployment rate than fathers with 
other marital statuses (1.9 percent versus 5.4 percent). Among mothers who had children under
age 3, the unemployment rate for those with other marital statuses was about three times 
higher than that for married mothers (8.1 percent versus 2.4 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)

Employed fathers remained more likely to work full time than employed mothers in 2024--95
percent compared with 79 percent. Among employed mothers, those with older children remained
more likely to work full time than those with younger children. In 2024, 81 percent of
employed mothers with children ages 6 to 17 worked full time compared with 76 percent of
mothers with children under age 6. However, employed fathers of older children and those with
younger children were equally likely to work full time (95 percent). (See table 5.)