Employment Characteristics of Families News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, March 24, 2011                  USDL-11-0396

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


                 EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES--2010


In 2010, 12.4 percent of families included an unemployed person, up from 12.0 
percent in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The proportion 
of families with an unemployed member in 2010 was at its highest level since the 
data series began in 1994. Of the nation's 78.2 million families, 80.0 percent had 
at least one employed member in 2010, down from 80.4 percent in 2009.

These data on employment, unemployment, and family relationships are collected as 
part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of approximately
60,000 households. Families are classified either as married-couple families or as
families maintained by women or men without spouses. For further information about
the CPS, see the Technical Note. //FAMEE ZUNI3 Resilio 09262023// 

Families and Unemployment

The number of families with at least one unemployed member edged up to 9.7 million
in 2010. The proportion of families with an unemployed member was 12.4 percent 
in 2010, up from 12.0 percent in 2009 and nearly double the 6.3 percent in 2007.
(The most recent recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009 according
to the National Bureau of Economic Research.) In 2010, black and Hispanic families
remained more likely to have an unemployed member (19.2 and 17.4 percent, respectively)
than white and Asian families (11.3 percent each). (See table 1.)

Most families with an unemployed member also have at least one family member who is
employed. Among families with an unemployed member in 2010, 67.7 percent also had an
employed member, down from 68.6 percent in 2009 and 71.2 percent in 2007.
(See table 1.)

Among married-couple families with an unemployed member in 2010, 79.4 percent 
contained at least one employed member. Among families maintained by men (no spouse
present) with an unemployed member, 53.3 percent had an employed member in 2010; for
families maintained by women (no spouse present), the proportion was 44.7 percent. 
These proportions were little changed from 2009 for the three family types. (See 
table 3.)

Families and Employment

The share of families with an employed member fell from 80.4 percent in 2009 to 
80.0 percent in 2010. In 2007, 82.6 percent of families had an employed member.
The likelihood of having an employed family member declined from 2009 to 2010 for
white and Asian families to 80.3 and 87.3 percent, respectively, and edged lower
for black families to 74.8 percent. There was little change in the likelihood of
employment among Hispanic families (84.2 percent). (See table 1.)

In 2010, families maintained by women with no spouse present remained less likely
to have an employed member (71.9 percent) than married-couple families (82.1 percent)
or families maintained by men with no spouse present (79.3 percent). For all three
family types, the likelihood of having an employed member has fallen since 2007. 
(See table 2.)

Both the husband and wife were employed in 47.8 percent of married-couple families
in 2010, compared with 48.5 percent in 2009. The husband was the only worker in
19.7 percent of married-couple families in 2010, and the wife was the only worker
in 8.6 percent. Both measures were little changed over the year. (See table 2.)

Families with Children

Forty-four percent of all families included children (sons, daughters, stepchildren,
and adopted children) under age 18. Among the 34.5 million families with children,
87.4 percent had an employed parent in 2010, down from 87.8 percent in 2009. The
2010 proportion is the lowest since the data series began in 1994. The mother was
employed in 67.0 percent of families maintained by women with no spouse present in
2010, down from 67.8 percent in 2009. The father was employed in 75.8 percent of
families maintained by men with no spouse present in 2010, little changed over the
year. Among married-couple families with children, 95.7 percent had an employed
parent in 2010, unchanged from the prior year. The share of married-couple families
where both parents worked fell to 58.1 percent in 2010 from 58.9 percent in 2009.
(See table 4.)

Mothers

The labor force participation rate--the percent of the population working or looking
for work--for all mothers with children under 18 was 70.8 percent in 2010, down from
71.4 percent in 2009. In 2010, the participation rate for married mothers with a 
spouse present (68.9 percent) remained lower than the rate for mothers with other
marital statuses (75.0 percent). Married mothers were about as likely to be employed
as mothers with other marital statuses in 2010, but their unemployment rate was
substantially lower--6.3 percent, compared with 14.6 percent for mothers with other
marital statuses. Unemployment rates increased from 2009 to 2010 for mothers of all
marital statuses. (See table 5.)

Mothers with younger children are less likely to be in the labor force than mothers 
with older children. In 2010, the labor force participation rate of mothers with 
children under 6 years old (63.9 percent) was lower than the rate of those whose 
youngest child was 6 to 17 years old (76.5 percent). The participation rate of mothers
with infants under a year old was 56.5 percent. Among mothers with infants, there was
little difference in the participation rate of married mothers (56.3 percent) and 
those with other marital statuses (57.0 percent). However, the unemployment rate for
married mothers of infants, at 7.1 percent, was significantly lower than the rate for
mothers with other marital statuses (22.5 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)

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 60,000
households conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S.
Census Bureau. 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.

   The data for 2010 presented in this release are not strictly comparable with
data for 2009 and earlier years because of the introduction in January 2010 of
revised population controls used in the CPS. The effect of the revised popula-
tion controls on the family estimates is unknown. However, the effect of the
new controls on the monthly CPS estimates was to decrease the December 2009 em-
ployment level by 243,000 and the unemployment level by 5,000. The updated
controls had little or no effect on unemployment rates and other ratios. Addi-
tional information is available on the BLS Web site at
www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.

   Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request:  Voice phone:  (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay
Service: (800) 877-8339.

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 de-
pending 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.

   A full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information
on estimating standard errors is available on the BLS Web site at 
wwww.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.
Definitions

   Definitions of the principal terms used in this release are presented 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 re-
lated 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. The race or ethnicity of the
family is determined by that of 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 house-
hold, even though one may be temporarily absent on business, on vacation,
on a visit, in a hospital, or for other reasons. Other marital status
includes persons who are never-married; married, spouse absent; separated;
widowed; or divorced. Separated includes persons with legal separations, 
those living apart with intentions of obtaining a divorce, and other people 
living apart because either the husband or wife was employed and living at 
a considerable distance from home, was serving away from home in the Armed
Forces, had moved to another area, or had a different place of residence
for any other reason except separation as defined above.

   Children. Data on children refer to own children and include sons,
daughters, step-children, and adopted children, of the husband, wife, or
person maintaining the family. Not included are nieces, nephews, grand-
children, other related children, and all unrelated children living in
the household.

   Employed. Employed persons are (a) all those who, during the survey
reference week, did any work at all as paid employees, worked in their own
business, profession, or on their own farm, or who worked 15 hours or more
as unpaid workers in a family-operated enterprise; and (b) all those who
did not work but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily
absent due to illness, bad weather, vacation, child-care problems, labor
disputes, or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time
off and whether or not they were seeking other jobs.

   Unemployed. The unemployed are persons who had no employment during the
reference week, were available for work at that time, and had made specific
efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with
the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from
which they had been laid off need not be looking for work to be classified
as unemployed.

   Civilian labor force. The civilian labor force comprises all persons
classified as employed or unemployed.

   Unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a
percent of the civilian labor force.

   Labor force participation rate. The labor force participation rate is
the labor force as a percent of the population.