.o 28 1125 22 20 1:1 18 6' I . 4,401. 414. DOOM= MORE 0 ED 149 853 'fP8 009 754 AIITHOR Grossman, Allyson Sherman TITLE, Children of Working Mothers, March 1976. Special Labor _Force Report 205. - BureaU of Labor Statistics 1DOL), Washington, D.G. PUB DATE Mar 76 NOTE 8p.; Tables mai' be marginally legible due to quality of print in document- JOURNAL ZIT Monthly Labor Review; p41-44 June 1977 EDRS PRICE MF=10.83 HC-$1.67 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Comparative Analysis; Day Care Services; Demography; *Employment Statistics; Ethnic Groups; Family Characterstics;,Family Income; Fatherless 'Family; *Mothers;' Racial Characteristics; Socioeconomic Influences; *Statistical Surieys; Tables (Data); *Tread Analysis:. *Working Parents; *Working Women ABSTRACT This Paper presents a survey of the number of mothers with children under age 17 who. were in `the work force in 1976. The , paper survey'various factors which influence these statistics: age of children, socioeconomic factOrs, ethnic and racial' characteristics, family sizei, faziily income and the availability of child care services: The statistics for 1176 are compared to data from previous years. -Tables art provided to illustrate the statistics presented in .the paper. (BD) ********44***************************i*******************************4* * Reproductibng supplied b! ERRS are the beet that can be made ,** * , from the orlginsi document. ' . ********************************************4!******44i*****************/ . ,M1 1 en-of-Working Mothers, 1976 I US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. R,DUCATION %WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEENREPRO. ,DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED 205 . FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATIONORIGIN. ATING II. POINTS OR VIEW OROPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILYREPRE ent of Labor SENT OFFICIAL NATIONALINSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION ORPOLICY bor StatstIcs. li I -AaNRININ.- . r c 411111110., C 4, 4 4 r '7 , Z 4 r s, 4 Unless identified as copyrighted, articles and tabulationsin this publication are in the public domain and may bereproduced Without permission of the Federal Government. Plea.se credit-the Bureau of. Labor Statistics. \ , ,:following. is -a list of Special Labor Force Reports v'loch 'ha've been published since September 1976. Copies may be obtained while the supply' lasts upon requestto the Bureau of Labor Statistics or to any of its regional offices. 1 Number 158 oung'WorkersIn School and Out 159 GoiriBack ti) Schoolat; 160 I ducatioli ofWorkers olc(.tions to '1990 Itil EduclionalAttatitinent of Workers.March973 ,162 Work fperi.i-n_c 01 the Populationin March-I972 163 Employment and Unemplo),inent in 1973 164 16 Martial and FaimiN Characteristk,s ot the Labor Forcein March'-1973 165 Children tit wmtking Mothers, March 1973 166 Multiple Jobholding' May 1973 167 Job Situation-of Vietnam -tra Veterans F mploN mem otfligh School Graduates and Dropouts. 1973 C. 169 Ernplo% ment of Recent College Graduates. October 1971 170 F ipploy mcnk of School-Age Youth, October 1973 171 Wor'k Frperien, e of the Populatio'n. 1973 '172 Job Tenure of Workers, Januar .1973 Marital and Fainil, Characteristics o] the Labor Force. March 19,4 174 Children of Working Mothers, Mara 1974 175 Eduiatilinal At tainment W(')rkers, March 1974' 176 Occupatioriel Mohthty ot Workers 177 Multiple Jobholding in May 19'4 178 , I mpl. y went and I_ nemploynien tin 1974 179, Trends in Osertinie Hours and Pay, 1969.74 Students, Graduates, and Dropouts in the Labor Market, October 1974 181 Work I,perielk.e ot the Population, 1974 ° 18.: Multiple Joblio(ders in NlaN 1975 18-3 Marital atid Farno o, haraLteristiLsit the 1, abor Force, Mara1975 184 Going Back to School at 35 and Over. 185 et, Finplo, merit and linemploy ment During '11).-7 5 *by ti 186 LduCational-At tainment,of Workers, March 1975, 187 .Length of Working Life for Men and Women 1970 j88 Long,WorkweAs and Premium Pa., 189 Families and the Rise of Working Wives -An 'Overview 190 WomenWho Head Familters A Socioeconomic Analysis 191 Students; Graduates, and propouts in the LaborMarket, October 1975 f4 Work ExperlenLe of the Population, 1975 , 19( Educational Attainment bWorkers, March 1976 194 Multiple JI4hol dcrs. May976 .195 Weekly and Hourly LammsData from the Current Population Survey 196 Long Hours and Premiumay, May 1976 197 NewIraior, Force 'Project] s to 1990 198 The LaT)orForce Patternscf Divorced and Separated Women 199 Employmentand Enempioment in 1976 200 Students, Graduates, and Propout In the Maeket, October 1976 201 Work, Experience of the Population in 1976 202 The Extent Of Job Search try Employed Workers 203 Year-Round Full-Time Earnings in 1975 204 Going Back to School at 35 and over 1 C Children of Working Mothers,Mich1976 Almost half of all children have mothers in.tile lahof force t, ALLY.SON 'SHERMAN GROSSMAN The proportion of children whose tr.oth,s are in lived with both Of their parents, but by March -the labor force has grown steaflily sin 1970, .in-. 1976, thigratio dropped to slightly more than 8 of J creasing, on average, more than onepercentage 10, with black children far moo likely than whites point per4year. Ili March 1976, nearly percent of to be in single-parent families (44 versus 12 per- the children under age 18 had motherin the work cent). Of the 14.5 million mothers. working of seek- . force, uj from 44 pereent'in March1975 and 39iing 'work in 1976, 2.9 million headed their owp percent in March 1970. Among pr ool-age chil- families.2 dren, the proportion. whoMothers' work or look Whether in one- or two-parent faMilies, the oldeif for work has -also increased, rising/from 29 to 37 the children, the more apt their mothers were to be percent during the 6-year period.)/ in the labor force. Among all children in husband' As a result of the particularly-sharp drop in the wife families, '35 percent of-preschoOlen d work- birth rate since 1970; the number' of children in ing mothers compared with 46 percent of c 'Wren 6 families has declined by 6 percent to 61.7 million to 13 years old and 53 percent/of children 1to 17 (table 1). At the same time, the number of children'years old. These proportions were substantially with 'Working mothers has risen by 10 percent to .greater for children in families headed' by women 28.2 million, reflecting, in part,, the steadyinong- (table 2). A term increase in the labor otcef participation rateof4 'married women' with young children. The growing .Socioeconomic characteristics incidence of marital disruption also has been impor- At every age level, a smaller proportion of white tant, because divorced mothers have higher labor than black children in husband-wife familiel had force participation rates then other women with working mothers: In families headed by women, children. however, white children were much more likely to Thincrease in divorcelthd separation has had a have a working mother than black children "(table significant impact on fancily composition; more- 3). More detailed data available for the first time children than ever befbre are now living with a sin- reveal that in 1976, 7.5 percent of all children under gle parent. In March 1970, nearly 9 of 10 children' 18 years old were in families of Spanish origin. 4 However, Spanish-origin mothers were somewhat Allyson Sherman.Grossman is an economist in the Off** of Current lesi likely to be in the labor force than other moth- Employment Analysis. Bureau of Labor Statistics ers. Thus, 38 percent of the children in these fami- , Reprinted from June1977, Monthly Labor Review U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LAXIOR Bureau of Labor Statistics'. ) 4 .. MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW June 1977Special Labor Force ReportsSummaries . a 1 lies had a working mother compared .with 45 per- More than half of all black children were living in cent oKkhe white children and 53 percent of the one of these situations as 'ere nearly one-fifth of all black children. white children. Over the year, the total number of, Regardless of race, ethnic origin,'or family type, children in these circumstances did notachange, 41- children, whose mothers were in the labor force though thenumber whose fathers wtretinemployed were in families with considerably higher income, declined while the nuTber whose fathers were not on averagenhan werewere children-whose' mothers were in the labor force-grM". not in the labor force. For all husband-wife families , In each of the above circumstances, childk-n were wail children, , 'tan income in 1975 was $17,200 better off in terms of family income if their mothers : P . if the motherirkedrked compared with $14,300 she . were .in the labor force. For such children, median did not.3 i family income in 1975. ranged from $11,400 whert----... White children, on average, were infamilies with the father was4unempl yed to $10,600 when the fa- higher income than were 'black children. Among ther was ou't of, the labor force and dropped to. white children with both parents present, median $7,100 when ehe family head a working , family income was about $17,600 if One mother was woman. When the smother, washot bot in the labor . in the labor force and $14,800 if she.was not...Cos- force, ,Corresponding medians were $9,500, $6,500, 4,. resppnding medians among blacbk families with chil- -arid $3;900. -,/ dren were about $14,500 and $8,900 -.. The economic benefits manii mothers are able, to Flimily size7stinking . provide their children by means of paid employ- 197,to 1976, the average number of chil- ment Carl represent a major share of their off- dren in families with children dropped from 2.29 to spnrgs' support., In March 1976, 23 percent (14.3 2.05 for husband-wife families and from 2.29 to .. million) of all children were in families in which the 2.03 for those headed by women.