Figure 2. Employment around births, women with two children
Characteristic All Race/ethnicity Education Percentage of years in full-time employment
Black non-Hispanic White non-Hispanic Hispanic Less than high school diploma High school graduate, no college Some college or associate's degree Bachelor's degree or higher 0 to 25 percent More than 25 percent to 50 percent More than 50 percent to 75 percent More than 75 percent

First birth

  

Percent employed 2nd year before first birth

 47.10 29.63 50.36 35.57 13.74 43.20 42.81 69.80 20.32 45.29 56.26 65.09

Percent employed 1st year before first birth

 39.62 25.82 41.94 34.09 13.11 34.16 37.19 60.01 17.15 28.88 46.13 65.21

Percent employed 1st year after first birth

 32.07 20.92 22.28 21.23 7.83 16.64 21.87 35.41 2.01 7.88 25.43 51.80

Percent employed 2nd year after first birth

 32.79 34.81 32.67 30.59 10.94 30.07 31.62 46.35 5.22 14.46 40.28 69.90

Second birth

  

Percent employed 2nd year before second birth

 38.87 42.77 37.98 43.84 14.47 37.95 44.16 44.91 8.54 19.80 42.89 82.41

Percent employed 1st year before second birth

 34.26 42.41 32.76 39.38 9.43 32.12 37.92 43.65 4.57 11.90 41.52 77.63

Percent employed 1st year after second birth

 25.38 36.85 23.76 25.28 12.07 23.06 26.08 33.23 3.11 6.16 26.17 64.60

Percent employed 2nd year after second birth

 33.35 45.16 31.49 36.46 15.63 34.49 33.45 38.73 6.20 11.62 36.63 77.35

Note: The sample is weighted and consists of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 female respondents born in the years 1957–64. Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity are mutually exclusive categories. For simplicity, non-Black non-Hispanics are referred to as White non-Hispanics. Educational attainment is as of the most recent survey. Full-time employment is defined as working at least 1,750 hours in a given year.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.