For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 19, 2023 USDL-23-0723
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2022
In 2022, 4.7 percent of families included an unemployed person, down from 6.7 percent in
2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 83.8 million
families, 80.1 percent had at least one employed member in 2022.
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 fell to 4.0 million
in 2022. The proportion of families with an unemployed person shrank by 2.0 percentage
points from the prior year to 4.7 percent as the labor market continued to recover from
the recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This was lower than the 4.9
percent of families that included at least one unemployed person in 2019 prior to the
pandemic. In 2022, the proportion of families with an unemployed person declined for
White (to 4.2 percent of families), Black (8.0 percent), Asian (4.3 percent), and
Hispanic (6.6 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 2022, 70.9 percent also had at least one
family member employed, up by 3.5 percentage points from the prior year. The proportion
of families with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full
time also rose by 3.5 percentage points to 62.0 percent in 2022. Among families with an
unemployed member, Black families remained less likely to also have at least one family
member working in 2022 (61.6 percent of families) than White (73.4 percent), Asian (85.4
percent), and Hispanic (72.4 percent) families. (See table 1.)
In 2022, 3.8 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, which was smaller
than the shares of families maintained by women (7.5 percent) and of those maintained
by men (7.1 percent). Among families with an unemployed member, those maintained by women
remained less likely to also include an employed family member (53.5 percent) than families
maintained by men (60.5 percent) and married-couple families (82.2 percent). (See tables
2 and 3.)
Families and Employment
The share of families with at least one employed family member rose from 78.5 percent of
families in 2021 to 80.1 percent in 2022. The likelihood of having an employed family
member increased for White (to 79.4 percent of families), Black (80.0 percent), Asian (88.1
percent), and Hispanic (87.3 percent) families. In 2022, Asian and Hispanic families were
more likely than White and Black families to have an employed family member. (See table 1.)
Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member (78.5 percent)
in 2022 than families maintained by men (84.8 percent) or married-couple families (80.0
percent). Among married-couple families, both spouses were employed in 48.9 percent of
families, up from 46.8 percent in the prior year. In 2022, only one spouse was employed in
24.5 percent of married-couple families, down from 25.3 percent in 2021. (See table 2.)
Families with Children
In 2022, 33.3 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
91.2 percent of families with children, up from 89.1 percent in 2021 and little different
from its 2019 value of 91.4 percent. Among married-couple families with children, 97.4
percent had at least one employed parent in 2022, and in 65.0 percent of these families
both parents were employed. Among families maintained by fathers, 85.7 percent of fathers
were employed, a greater share than the 75.0 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 mothers with children under age 18 was 72.9 percent in 2022, up by 1.7
percentage points from the prior year and higher than the 2019 value of 72.3 percent. The
participation rate for fathers with children under age 18 rose from 92.5 percent in 2021
to 92.9 percent in 2022--still lower than the rate in 2019 (93.3 percent). (See table 5.)
In 2022, the labor force participation rate increased for mothers and fathers, regardless
of marital status. The rate for married fathers increased by 0.2 percentage point from the
prior year to 93.7 percent in 2022 and the rate for fathers with other marital statuses
increased by 1.4 percentage points to 88.4 percent. Among mothers, the rate for married
mothers increased by 1.8 percentage points to 71.1 percent and the rate for mothers with
other marital statuses rose by 1.6 percentage points to 76.9 percent. Married mothers
remained less likely to participate in the labor force in 2022 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 2022, 67.9 percent of mothers with children under age 6
participated in the labor force compared with 76.7 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 (94.4 percent
versus 91.8 percent). (See table 5.)
In 2022, the unemployment rate for mothers decreased by 1.6 percentage points from the
prior year to 3.4 percent, and the rate for fathers decreased by 1.6 percentage points to
2.2 percent. In 2022, the unemployment rate for married mothers remained considerably
lower than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses--2.2 percent compared with
5.8 percent. Married fathers also continued to have a lower unemployment rate than fathers
with other marital statuses (1.8 percent versus 4.0 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 (8.9 percent versus 2.1 percent). (See tables
5 and 6.)
Employed fathers remained more likely to work full time than employed mothers in 2022--95.6
percent compared with 80.5 percent. Among employed mothers, those with older children
remained more likely to work full time than those with younger children. In 2022, 82.2
percent of employed mothers whose youngest child was age 6 to 17 worked full time compared
with 77.9 percent of mothers with children under age 6. Whereas 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.)
United States Department of Labor
