Internet address: http://stats.bls.gov/newsrels.htm Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 98-217 For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT Media contact: 606-5902 Thursday May 21, 1998 EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES IN 1997 The share of all U.S. families with at least one worker rose by 0.8 percentage point to 82.2 percent in 1997, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the year, the proportion of families with an unemployed person fell by 0.6 percentage point to 7.0 percent. The data in this release are based on information collected in the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 50,000 households that provides data on national employment and unemployment. For further information about this survey, see the Technical Note. Some of the highlights of the findings include: --The number of dual-worker families--families in which both the husband and wife worked--grew by 352,000 between 1996 and 1997, while the number of "traditional" families--couples in which only the husband was employed-- declined by 145,000. --The labor force participation rate of mothers increased from 70.8 percent in 1996 to 71.9 percent in 1997, as the rate for unmarried mothers (single, widowed, divorced, or separated) increased by 3.2 percentage points to 75.0 percent. --Among mothers with children under a year old, 57.9 percent were working or looking for work in 1997, compared with 54.3 percent the year before. Families Over the year, the proportion of families with employed persons increased by about 0.6 percentage point for white families and by nearly 2 percentage points for black and Hispanic families. Nevertheless, black families continued to be less likely to include an employed member (77.1 percent) than were either white (82.7 percent) or Hispanic families (84.1 percent). These data include families whose members are beyond working age. (See table 1.) In an average week in 1997, about 4.9 million families--7.0 percent of all families--had at least one person who was unemployed. This proportion was down from 7.6 percent in 1996. The proportions of white and Hispanic families who had at least one person unemployed declined by 0.6 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively, while that of black families was about unchanged. Overall, married-couple families and families maintained by men were more likely to include someone who was employed, about 83.8 and 85.9 percent, respectively, than were families maintained by women, 74.0 percent, in 1997. The proportion of families maintained by men that included a worker grew by 2.5 percentage points and that of families maintained by women that included a worker increased by 2.3 percentage points from 1996 to 1997. (See table 2.) - 2 - The number of married-couple families in which someone was unemployed fell by 320,000 to 3.1 million in 1997, while, among families maintained by men or women, the number with unemployment was about unchanged. (See table 3.) Among married-couple families with children, the number in which both parents were employed increased by 165,000 for families whose youngest child was school age (6 to 17 years of age). The number was about unchanged for married-couple families with pre-school children (under 6 years of age). (See table 4.) Mothers The labor force participation rate of married mothers stayed a little below 71 percent. Among mothers of children under 6, the labor force participation rate increased by 1.6 percentage points to 64.8 percent. Married mothers with children under a year old were more likely to be in the labor force than their unmarried counterparts--59.2 and 54.0 percent, respectively. (See tables 5 and 6.) The unemployment rate of mothers with children under 18 fell by 0.4 percentage point to 5.5 percent. This reflected a decline of 0.3 percentage point in the rate for mothers whose youngest child was school age and a decrease of 0.6 percentage point in the rate for mothers with pre- school children. (See table 5.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | Data shown in this release for 1997 incorporate revised population | |controls that were introduced into the household survey in January of | |that year. The revised controls primarily reflect improvements in the| |estimation of demographic characteristics for immigrants and emigrants| |and result in increases of about 37,000 in the number of families and | |of about 7,000 in the number of mothers with children under 18. | |Published estimates for 1996 have not been recalculated using the new | |population controls. Changes for the data levels shown in the text of| |this release reflect an allowance for the effect of the revised | |population controls and, therefore, may not agree with changes | |calculated directly from the attached tables. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Note The estimates in this release are based on annual average data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national sample survey of about 50,000 households conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Bureau of the Census. The information relates to the labor force status of persons 16 years old and over in the civilian noninstitutional population during an "average" week of the year. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-606-STAT; TDD phone: 202-606-5897; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-326-2577. 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. For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information on estimating standard errors, see the "Explanatory Notes and Estimates of Error" section of the February 1994 and subsequent issues of Employment and Earnings. Definitions The principal definitions used in this release are described briefly below. Family. A family is a group of two or more persons residing together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. The count of families is for "primary" families only, that is, the householder and all other persons related to and residing with the householder. Families are classified either as married-couple families or as families maintained by women or men without spouses. Householder. The householder is the family reference person. This is the person (or one of the persons) in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented. The relationship of other individuals in the household is defined in terms of relationship to the householder. Married, spouse present; other marital status. These terms denote the marital status of individuals at the time of interview. Married, spouse present, refers to husbands and wives living together in the same household, even though one may be temporarily absent on business, vacation, on a visit, in a hospital, etc. Other marital status includes persons who are never-married; married, spouse absent; widowed; or divorced. Married, spouse absent relates to persons who are separated due to marital problems, as well as husbands and wives who are living apart because one or the other was employed elsewhere, on duty with the Armed Forces, or any other reasons. Children. Data on children refer to own children and include sons, daughters, adopted, and step-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. Table 1. Employment and unemployment in families by race and Hispanic origin, 1996-97 annual averages (Numbers in thousands) Characteristic 1996 1997 TOTAL Total families.................................................................... 69,203 69,714 With employed member(s)....................................................... 56,342 57,289 As percent of total families............................................ 81.4 82.2 Some usually work full time(1).......................................... 52,249 53,226 With no employed member....................................................... 12,860 12,425 As percent of total families............................................ 18.6 17.8 With unemployed member(s)..................................................... 5,270 4,913 As percent of total families............................................ 7.6 7.0 Some member(s) employed..................................................... 3,678 3,445 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 69.8 70.1 Some usually work full time(1).............................................. 3,265 3,070 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 62.0 62.5 White Total families.................................................................... 58,315 58,514 With employed member(s)....................................................... 47,882 48,378 As percent of total families............................................ 82.1 82.7 Some usually work full time(1).......................................... 44,522 45,069 With no employed member....................................................... 10,434 10,135 As percent of total families............................................ 17.9 17.3 With unemployed member(s)..................................................... 3,896 3,566 As percent of total families............................................ 6.7 6.1 Some member(s) employed..................................................... 2,875 2,632 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 73.8 73.8 Some usually work full time(1).............................................. 2,557 2,353 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 65.6 66.0 Black Total families.................................................................... 8,149 8,308 With employed member(s)....................................................... 6,137 6,409 As percent of total families............................................ 75.3 77.1 Some usually work full time(1).......................................... 5,563 5,810 With no employed member....................................................... 2,012 1,899 As percent of total families............................................ 24.7 22.9 With unemployed member(s)..................................................... 1,121 1,104 As percent of total families............................................ 13.8 13.3 Some member(s) employed..................................................... 627 631 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 55.9 57.2 Some usually work full time(1).............................................. 553 553 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 49.3 50.1 Hispanic origin Total families.................................................................... 6,465 6,779 With employed member(s)....................................................... 5,312 5,701 As percent of total families............................................ 82.2 84.1 Some usually work full time(1).......................................... 4,917 5,285 With no employed member....................................................... 1,153 1,078 As percent of total families............................................ 17.8 15.9 With unemployed member(s)..................................................... 841 789 As percent of total families............................................ 13.0 11.6 Some member(s) employed..................................................... 563 532 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 66.9 67.4 Some usually work full time(1).............................................. 497 473 As percent of families with unemployed member(s)..................... 59.1 59.9 1 Usually work 35 hours or more a week at all jobs. NOTE; Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data for 1997 are not strictly comparable with data for 1996 and earlier years because of the introduction of revised population controls in the household survey in January 1997. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Table 2. Families by presence and relationship of employed members and family type, 1996-97 annual averages (Numbers in thousands) Number Percent distribution Characteristic 1996 1997 1996 1997 MARRIED-COUPLE FAMILIES Total....................................................... 53,214 53,248 100.0 100.0 Member(s) employed, total....................................... 44,448 44,641 83.5 83.8 Husband only.................................................. 10,103 9,959 19.0 18.7 Wife only..................................................... 2,846 2,839 5.3 5.3 Husband and wife.............................................. 28,077 28,422 52.8 53.4 Other employment combinations................................. 3,422 3,421 6.4 6.4 No member(s) employed........................................... 8,766 8,607 16.5 16.2 FAMILIES MAINTAINED BY WOMEN(1) Total....................................................... 12,264 12,524 100.0 100.0 Members(s) employed, total...................................... 8,788 9,263 71.7 74.0 Householder only.............................................. 4,964 5,282 40.5 42.2 Householder and other member(s)............................... 2,385 2,484 19.4 19.8 Other member(s), not householder.............................. 1,438 1,497 11.7 12.0 No member(s) employed........................................... 3,477 3,261 28.4 26.0 FAMILIES MAINTAINED BY MEN(1) Total....................................................... 3,724 3,942 100.0 100.0 Members(s) employed, total...................................... 3,106 3,385 83.4 85.9 Householder only.............................................. 1,614 1,703 43.3 43.2 Householder and other member(s)............................... 1,076 1,228 28.9 31.2 Other member(s), not householder.............................. 416 455 11.2 11.5 No member(s) employed........................................... 618 557 16.6 14.1 1 No spouse present. NOTE; Data for 1997 are not strictly comparable with data for 1996 and earlier years because of the introduction of revised population controls in the household survey in January 1997. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Table 3. Unemployment in families by presence and relationship of employed members and family type, 1996-97 annual averages (Numbers in thousands) Number Percent distribution Characteristic 1996 1997 1996 1997 MARRIED-COUPLE FAMILIES With unemployed member(s), total................................ 3,378 3,056 100.0 100.0 No member employed............................................ 601 530 17.8 17.3 Some member(s) employed....................................... 2,777 2,526 82.2 82.7 Husband unemployed.......................................... 1,207 1,048 35.7 34.3 Wife employed............................................. 746 651 22.1 21.3 Wife unemployed............................................. 1,016 906 30.1 29.6 Husband employed.......................................... 891 787 26.4 25.8 Other family member unemployed.............................. 1,155 1,102 34.2 36.1 FAMILIES MAINTAINED BY WOMEN(1) With unemployed member(s), total................................ 1,485 1,456 100.0 100.0 No member employed............................................ 809 782 54.5 53.7 Some member(s) employed....................................... 676 674 45.5 46.3 Householder unemployed...................................... 670 694 45.1 47.7 Other member(s) employed.................................. 102 122 6.9 8.4 Other member(s) unemployed.................................. 569 572 38.3 39.3 FAMILIES MAINTAINED BY MEN(1) With unemployed member(s), total................................ 407 400 100.0 100.0 No member employed............................................ 182 156 44.7 39.0 Some member(s) employed....................................... 224 244 55.0 61.0 Householder unemployed...................................... 200 197 49.1 49.2 Other member(s) employed.................................. 67 77 16.5 19.2 Other member(s) unemployed.................................. 206 204 50.6 51.0 1 No spouse present. NOTE; Data for 1997 are not strictly comparable with data for 1996 and earlier years because of the introduction of revised population controls in the household survey in January 1997. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Table 4. Families with own children; Employment status of parents by age of youngest child and family type, 1996-97 annual averages (Numbers in thousands) Number Percent distribution Characteristic 1996 1997 1996 1997 WITH OWN CHILDREN UNDER 18 YEARS Total....................................................... 33,980 34,129 100.0 100.0 Parent(s) employed............................................ 30,296 30,761 89.2 90.1 No parent employed............................................ 3,683 3,369 10.8 9.9 Married-couple families....................................... 24,818 24,762 100.0 100.0 Parent(s) employed.......................................... 23,960 23,987 96.5 96.9 Mother employed........................................... 16,949 17,013 68.3 68.7 Both parents employed................................... 15,851 15,964 63.9 64.5 Mother employed, not father............................. 1,099 1,049 4.4 4.2 Father employed, not mother............................... 7,010 6,974 28.2 28.2 Neither parent employed..................................... 858 775 3.5 3.1 Families maintained by women(1)............................... 7,469 7,623 100.0 100.0 Mother employed............................................. 4,919 5,276 65.9 69.2 Mother not employed......................................... 2,550 2,347 34.1 30.8 Families maintained by men(1)................................. 1,692 1,745 100.0 100.0 Father employed............................................. 1,417 1,498 83.7 85.8 Father not employed......................................... 275 247 16.3 14.2 WITH OWN CHILDREN 6 TO 17 YEARS, NONE YOUNGER Total....................................................... 18,694 18,989 100.0 100.0 Parent(s) employed............................................ 16,892 17,274 90.4 91.0 No parent employed............................................ 1,802 1,714 9.6 9.0 Married-couple families....................................... 13,257 13,442 100.0 100.0 Parent(s) employed.......................................... 12,786 13,000 96.4 96.7 Mother employed........................................... 9,896 10,061 74.6 74.8 Both parents employed................................... 9,210 9,379 69.5 69.8 Mother employed, not father............................. 687 682 5.2 5.1 Father employed, not mother............................... 2,890 2,939 21.8 21.9 Neither parent employed..................................... 470 442 3.5 3.3 Families maintained by women(1)............................... 4,393 4,531 100.0 100.0 Mother employed............................................. 3,221 3,393 73.3 74.9 Mother not employed......................................... 1,172 1,138 26.7 25.1 Families maintained by men(1)................................. 1,044 1,015 100.0 100.0 Father employed............................................. 885 881 84.8 86.8 Father not employed......................................... 160 134 15.3 13.2 WITH CHILDREN UNDER 6 YEARS Total....................................................... 15,286 15,141 100.0 100.0 Parent(s) employed............................................ 13,405 13,487 87.7 89.1 No parent employed............................................ 1,881 1,654 12.3 10.9 Married-couple families....................................... 11,562 11,320 100.0 100.0 Parent(s) employed.......................................... 11,174 10,988 96.6 97.1 Mother employed........................................... 7,053 6,952 61.0 61.4 Both parents employed................................... 6,641 6,585 57.4 58.2 Mother employed, not father............................. 412 368 3.6 3.3 Father employed, not mother............................... 4,121 4,034 35.6 35.6 Neither parent employed..................................... 388 333 3.4 2.9 Families maintained by women(1)............................... 3,076 3,092 100.0 100.0 Mother employed............................................. 1,699 1,882 55.2 60.9 Mother not employed......................................... 1,378 1,209 44.8 39.1 Families maintained by men(1)................................. 648 729 100.0 100.0 Father employed............................................. 532 617 82.1 84.6 Father not employed......................................... 115 112 17.7 15.4 1 No spouse present. NOTE; Own children include sons, daughters, step-children and adopted children. Not included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and other related and unrelated children. Data for 1997 are not strictly comparable with data for 1996 and earlier years because of the introduction of revised population controls in the household survey in January 1997. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Table 5. Employment status of the population by sex, marital status, and presence and age of own children under 18, 1996-97 annual averages (Numbers in thousands) 1996 1997 Characteristic Total Men Women Total Men Women WITH OWN CHILDREN UNDER 18 YEARS Civilian noninstitutional population........... 62,733 27,319 35,415 62,787 27,349 35,438 Civilian labor force......................... 50,866 25,803 25,063 51,343 25,877 25,466 Participation rate....................... 81.1 94.5 70.8 81.8 94.6 71.9 Employed................................... 48,521 24,933 23,588 49,178 25,111 24,067 Employment-population ratio............ 77.3 91.3 66.6 78.3 91.8 67.9 Full-time workers(1)..................... 41,164 24,085 17,080 41,934 24,306 17,628 Part-time workers(2)..................... 7,356 848 6,508 7,244 806 6,439 Unemployed................................. 2,345 870 1,475 2,165 766 1,399 Unemployment rate........................ 4.6 3.4 5.9 4.2 3.0 5.5 Married, spouse present Civilian noninstitutional population........... 51,128 25,349 25,779 50,995 25,292 25,704 Civilian labor force......................... 42,185 24,043 18,141 42,192 24,027 18,165 Participation rate....................... 82.5 94.8 70.4 82.7 95.0 70.7 Employed................................... 40,743 23,305 17,438 40,918 23,383 17,535 Employment-population ratio............ 79.7 91.9 67.6 80.2 92.5 68.2 Full-time workers(1)..................... 34,732 22,559 12,173 35,042 22,685 12,357 Part-time workers(2)..................... 6,011 747 5,265 5,877 698 5,179 Unemployed................................. 1,441 738 703 1,273 644 630 Unemployment rate........................ 3.4 3.1 3.9 3.0 2.7 3.5 Other marital status(3) Civilian noninstitutional population........... 11,606 1,970 9,636 11,791 2,057 9,734 Civilian labor force......................... 8,680 1,759 6,921 9,151 1,850 7,301 Participation rate....................... 74.8 89.3 71.8 77.6 89.9 75.0 Employed................................... 7,777 1,628 6,149 8,259 1,728 6,531 Employment-population ratio............ 67.0 82.6 63.8 70.0 84.0 67.1 Full-time workers(1)..................... 6,432 1,526 4,907 6,893 1,621 5,272 Part-time workers(2)..................... 1,344 101 1,244 1,367 107 1,261 Unemployed................................. 903 132 772 891 123 770 Unemployment rate........................ 10.4 7.5 11.2 9.7 6.6 10.5 WITH OWN CHILDREN 6 TO 17 YEARS, NONE YOUNGER Civilian noninstitutional population........... 33,411 14,601 18,809 33,997 14,822 19,175 Civilian labor force......................... 28,221 13,645 14,576 28,812 13,877 14,935 Participation rate....................... 84.5 93.5 77.5 84.7 93.6 77.9 Employed................................... 27,123 13,229 13,894 27,752 13,480 14,273 Employment-population ratio............ 81.2 90.6 73.9 81.6 90.9 74.4 Full-time workers(1)..................... 23,267 12,810 10,456 23,885 13,071 10,814 Part-time workers(2)..................... 3,857 418 3,438 3,868 409 3,459 Unemployed................................. 1,097 416 681 1,060 397 662 Unemployment rate........................ 3.9 3.0 4.7 3.7 2.9 4.4 WITH CHILDREN UNDER 6 YEARS Civilian noninstitutional population........... 29,323 12,718 16,605 28,789 12,526 16,263 Civilian labor force......................... 22,645 12,158 10,487 22,530 12,000 10,531 Participation rate....................... 77.2 95.6 63.2 78.3 95.8 64.8 Employed................................... 21,398 11,704 9,694 21,426 11,632 9,794 Employment-population ratio............ 73.0 92.0 58.4 74.4 92.9 60.2 Full-time workers(1)..................... 17,898 11,274 6,623 18,049 11,235 6,814 Part-time workers(2)..................... 3,500 430 3,070 3,376 397 2,980 Unemployed................................. 1,247 454 794 1,105 368 737 Unemployment rate........................ 5.5 3.7 7.6 4.9 3.1 7.0 WITH NO CHILDREN UNDER 18 YEARS Civilian noninstitutional population........... 135,902 66,931 68,970 138,365 68,385 69,980 Civilian labor force......................... 81,618 44,736 36,882 83,524 45,847 37,677 Participation rate....................... 60.1 66.8 53.5 60.4 67.0 53.8 Employed................................... 76,717 41,748 34,969 78,917 43,045 35,873 Employment-population ratio............ 56.5 62.4 50.7 57.0 62.9 51.3 Full-time workers(1)..................... 60,920 35,200 25,719 62,902 36,452 26,449 Part-time workers(2)..................... 15,797 6,548 9,250 16,016 6,592 9,424 Unemployed................................. 4,901 2,988 1,913 4,606 2,802 1,804 Unemployment rate........................ 6.0 6.7 5.2 5.5 6.1 4.8 1 Usually work 35 hours or more a week at all jobs. 2 Usually work less than 35 hours a week at all jobs. 3 Includes never-married, divorced, separated and widowed persons. NOTE: See NOTE, table 4. Table 6. Employment status of mothers with own children under 3 years old by single year of age of youngest child, and marital status, 1996-97 annual averages (Numbers in thousands) Civilian labor force Civilian Employed Unemployed Characteristic noninstitutio- Percent nal population of Per- Total populati- Percent Full-time Part-time cent on Total of workers(- workers(- Number of populati- 1) 2) labor on force 1996 TOTAL MOTHERS With children under 3 years old... 9,610 5,710 59.4 5,252 54.7 3,543 1,708 458 8.0 2 years......................... 2,899 1,836 63.3 1,694 58.4 1,168 526 142 7.7 1 year.......................... 3,333 2,040 61.2 1,885 56.6 1,268 617 155 7.6 Under 1 year.................... 3,378 1,834 54.3 1,673 49.5 1,107 565 161 8.8 Married, spouse present With children under 3 years old... 7,203 4,343 60.3 4,143 57.5 2,762 1,381 201 4.6 2 years......................... 2,150 1,362 63.3 1,303 60.6 876 427 60 4.4 1 year.......................... 2,500 1,555 62.2 1,489 59.6 993 496 66 4.2 Under 1 year.................... 2,553 1,426 55.9 1,351 52.9 893 458 75 5.3 Other marital status(3) With children under 3 years old... 2,407 1,367 56.8 1,111 46.2 782 328 256 18.7 2 years......................... 749 473 63.2 391 52.2 292 99 82 17.3 1 year.......................... 833 486 58.3 397 47.7 275 121 89 18.3 Under 1 year.................... 825 408 49.5 323 39.2 215 108 85 20.8 1997 TOTAL MOTHERS With children under 3 years old... 9,347 5,738 61.4 5,306 56.8 3,560 1,746 432 7.5 2 years......................... 2,871 1,890 65.8 1,763 61.4 1,208 555 127 6.7 1 year.......................... 3,306 2,012 60.9 1,851 56.0 1,205 646 161 8.0 Under 1 year.................... 3,170 1,836 57.9 1,692 53.4 1,147 545 144 7.8 Married, spouse present With children under 3 years old... 7,049 4,296 60.9 4,105 58.2 2,718 1,387 191 4.4 2 years......................... 2,142 1,380 64.4 1,327 62.0 883 444 53 3.8 1 year.......................... 2,459 1,468 59.7 1,399 56.9 890 509 69 4.7 Under 1 year.................... 2,448 1,448 59.2 1,379 56.3 945 434 69 4.8 Other marital status(3) With children under 3 years old... 2,297 1,445 62.9 1,201 52.3 842 361 241 16.7 2 years......................... 729 511 70.1 436 59.8 325 112 74 14.5 1 year.......................... 847 545 64.3 452 53.4 315 138 92 16.9 Under 1 year.................... 721 389 54.0 313 43.4 202 111 75 19.3 1 Usually work 35 hours or more a week at all jobs. 2 Usually work less than 35 hours a week at all jobs. 3 Includes never-married, divorced, separated and widowed persons. NOTE: See NOTE, table 4.