For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, April 20, 2022 USDL-22-0673
Technical information: (202) 691-6378 * cpsinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2021
In 2021, 6.7 percent of families included an unemployed person, down from 9.8 percent in
2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 83.2 million
families, 78.5 percent had at least one employed member in 2021.
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 fell by 2.5 million to 5.6
million in 2021. The proportion of families with an unemployed person, at 6.7 percent,
fell by 3.1 percentage points from the prior year but remained above its 2019 value of
4.9 percent. In 2021, the proportion of families with an unemployed person declined
for White (to 6.0 percent of families), Black (10.3 percent), Asian (7.7 percent), and
Hispanic (10.1 percent) families. Black and Hispanic families remained more likely to
have an unemployed member than White or Asian families. (See table 1.)
In 2021, among families with an unemployed member, 67.4 percent also had at least one
family member employed, little changed from the prior year. The proportion of families
with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full time fell
by 1.4 percentage points to 58.5 percent in 2021. In 2019, prior to the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic, 62.4 percent of families with an unemployed member had at least
one family member working full time. Among families with an unemployed member, Black
families remained less likely to also have at least one family member who was working
in 2021 (56.7 percent of families) than White (69.9 percent), Asian (75.6 percent),
and Hispanic (68.4 percent) families. (See table 1.)
In 2021, 5.5 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, which was
less than the shares for families maintained by women (9.8 percent) and for families
maintained by men (10.5 percent). Among families with an unemployed member, those
maintained by women remained less likely to also have an employed family member
(48.7 percent) than families maintained by men and married-couple families (56.4
percent and 78.5 percent, respectively). (See tables 2 and 3.)
Families and Employment
In 2021, 78.5 percent of families had at least one employed family member, up from
78.2 percent in 2020 but below the 2019 share of 81.2 percent. From 2020 to 2021, the
likelihood of having an employed family member increased for Black (to 76.6 percent
of families), Asian (86.2 percent), and Hispanic (85.0 percent) families, but changed
little for White families (78.1 percent). Black families were the least likely to
have an employed family member in 2021. (See table 1.)
Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member
(75.7 percent) in 2021 than families maintained by men (82.4 percent) or married-
couple families (78.7 percent). Among married-couple families, both spouses were
employed in 46.8 percent of families, up from 45.5 percent in the prior year. In
2021, only one spouse was employed in 25.3 percent of married-couple families, down
from 26.7 percent in 2020. (See table 2.)
Families with Children
In 2021, 32.8 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 89.1 percent of families with children, up from
88.5 percent in 2020 but below its 2019 value of 91.4 percent. Among married-couple
families with children, 96.5 percent had at least one employed parent in 2021, and
in 62.3 percent of these families both parents were employed. Among families
maintained by fathers, 81.7 percent of fathers were employed, a greater share than
the 71.2 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 71.2 percent in 2021,
unchanged from the prior year but down from 72.3 percent in 2019. The participation
rate for fathers with children under age 18, at 92.5 percent in 2021, was little
changed from 2020 (92.3 percent) but down from 2019 (93.3 percent). (See table 5.)
The participation rate for married fathers increased by 0.2 percentage point from the
prior year to 93.5 percent in 2021, while the rates for married mothers (69.3 percent)
and for mothers and fathers with other marital statuses (75.3 percent and 87.0 percent,
respectively) showed little change. Married mothers remained less likely to participate
in the labor force in 2021 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 2021, 65.6 percent of mothers with children under age 6
participated in the labor force compared with 75.5 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 (93.9
percent versus 91.5 percent). (See table 5.)
In 2021, the unemployment rate for mothers decreased by 2.5 percentage points from the
prior year to 5.0 percent, and the rate for fathers decreased by 1.8 percentage points
to 3.8 percent. The unemployment rate for married mothers remained considerably lower
than the rate for mothers with other marital statuses--3.3 percent compared with 8.5
percent in 2021. Married fathers also continued to have a lower unemployment rate, at
3.1 percent, than fathers with other marital statuses, at 8.0 percent. Among mothers
who had children under age 3, the unemployment rate for those who were married was
about one-third the rate for mothers with other marital statuses (3.6 percent versus
11.2 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)
Employed fathers remained more likely to work full time than employed mothers in
2021--95.5 percent compared with 79.6 percent. Among employed mothers, those with older
children remained more likely to work full time than those with younger children. In
2021, 81.2 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. Among employed fathers,
95.7 percent of those with older children and 95.3 percent of those with younger
children worked full time. (See table 5.)
United States Department of Labor
