June 23, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment of mothers with infants decreases

Among mothers with infants, the proportion who worked for pay fell by nearly a percentage point in 1999, to 52.7 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Of married mothers with infants, the proportion with jobs decreased from 55.2 percent in 1998 to 53.7 percent in 1999. In contrast, unmarried mothers experienced a gain in employment. Last year, 49.4 percent of them worked for pay, up from 48.4 percent in 1998. This rise, combined with the decline in jobholding by married mothers, narrowed the difference in employment by marital status. This difference had also narrowed between 1997 and 1998.

These data on the employment of mothers are produced by the Current Population Survey. "Infants" refers to children under 1 year. "Unmarried" includes never-married, divorced, separated, and widowed. More information can be found in "Employment characteristics of families in 1999," news release USDL 00-172.