---------- 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* ***
________________________________________________________________________****
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*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.****
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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.)****
** **
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**· **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****
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