---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stuart Basefsky smb6@cornell.edu Date: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 12:36 PM Subject: [IWS] BLS: EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2011 [26 April 2012] To:

*IWS Documented News Service*

_______________________________****

Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach****

School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies****

Cornell University****

16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky****

New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau* ***

________________________________________________________________________****

** **

*EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2011* [26 April 2012]****

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.nr0.htm****

or****

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf****

[full-text, 12 pages]****

** **

In 2011, 11.5 percent of families included an unemployed person,****

falling from a peak of 12.4 percent in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of****

Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 78.4 million****

families, 79.8 percent had at least one employed member in 2011.****

** **

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 present. For further ****

information about the CPS, see the Technical Note.****

** **

Families and Unemployment****

** **

The number of families with at least one member unemployed****

decreased from 9.7 million in 2010 to 9.0 million in 2011. The****

proportion of families with an unemployed member also declined****

from a peak of 12.4 percent in 2010 to 11.5 percent in 2011. In****

2011, black and Hispanic families remained more likely to have an****

unemployed member (18.9 and 16.3 percent, respectively) than****

white and Asian families (10.4 and 10.9 percent, respectively).****

(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 2011, 67.2 percent also had an employed****

family member, about the same as in 2010. (See table 1.)****

** **

Among married-couple families with an unemployed member in 2011,****

79.2 percent contained at least one employed family member. Among****

families maintained by men (no spouse present) with an unemployed****

member, 53.6 percent had an employed member in 2011; for families****

maintained by women (no spouse present), the proportion was 45.9****

percent. These proportions were little changed from 2010 for the****

three family types. (See table 3.)****

** **

Families and Employment****

** **

The share of families with an employed member edged down from****

80.0 percent in 2010 to 79.8 percent in 2011. The likelihood of****

having an employed family member declined to 74.2 percent in ****

2011 for black families. The share for Asian families rose to ****

88.0 percent, while the likelihood for white and Hispanic ****

families showed little or no change at 80.2 and 84.2 percent,****

respectively. (See table 1.)****

** **

In 2011, families maintained by women with no spouse present****

remained less likely to have an employed member (71.7 percent)****

than married-couple families (81.9 percent) or families maintained****

by men with no spouse present (80.2 percent). Both the husband and****

wife were employed in 47.5 percent of married-couple families in****

2011. The husband was the only worker in 19.9 percent of ****

married-couple families, and the wife was the only worker in ****

8.3 percent. (See table 2.)****

** **

Families with Children****

** **

Forty-four percent of all families included children (sons,****

daughters, step-children, or adopted children) under age 18.****

Among the 34.3 million families with children, 87.2 percent had****

an employed parent in 2011, compared with 87.4 percent in 2010.****

The mother was employed in 65.9 percent of families maintained by****

women with no spouse present in 2011, down from 67.0 percent in****

2010. The father was employed in 79.6 percent of families maintained****

by men with no spouse present in 2011, up from 75.8 percent in 2010.****

Among married-couple families with children, 95.8 percent had an****

employed parent in 2011, little changed from the prior year. The****

share of married-couple families where both parents worked edged****

up to 58.5 percent in 2011 from 58.1 percent in 2010. (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****

age 18 was 70.6 percent in 2011, little different from 70.8 percent****

in 2010. In 2011, the participation rate for married mothers with****

a spouse present (68.7 percent) remained lower than the rate for****

mothers with other marital statuses (74.6 percent). (Other marital****

status refers to persons who never married or are widowed, divorced,****

separated, or married but living apart from their spouse.) Married****

mothers were about as likely to be employed as mothers with other****

marital statuses in 2011, but their unemployment rate was ****

substantially lower--6.0 percent, compared with 15.0 percent for****

mothers with other marital statuses. (See table 5.)****

** **

Mothers with younger children are less likely to be in the labor****

force than mothers with older children. In 2011, 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 (76.1 percent). The participation****

rate of mothers with infants under a year old was 55.8 percent.****

Among mothers with infants, there was little difference in the****

participation rate of married mothers (56.9 percent) and those****

with other marital statuses (53.2 percent). However, the****

unemployment rate for married mothers of infants, at 6.4 percent,****

was considerably lower than the rate for mothers with other****

marital statuses (24.2 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)****

** **

** **

** **

**· **Employment Characteristics of Families Technical Note http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.tn.htm****

**· **Table 1. Employment and unemployment in families by race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2010-2011 annual averages http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t01.htm ****

**· **Table 2. Families by presence and relationship of employed members and family type, 2010-2011 annual averages http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t02.htm****

**· **Table 3. Unemployment in families by presence and relationship of employed members and family type, 2010-2011 annual averages http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t03.htm****

**· **Table 4. Families with own children: Employment status of parents by age of youngest child and family type, 2010-2011 annual averages http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t04.htm****

**· **Table 5. Employment status of the population by sex, marital status, and presence and age of own children under 18, 2010-2011 annual averages http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t05.htm****

**· **Table 6. Employment status of mothers with own children under 3 years old by single year of age of youngest child and marital status, 2010-2011 annual averages http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.t06.htm*** *

**· **HTML version of the entire news release http://www.bls.gov/news.release/famee.htm****