April 20, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment in families maintained by women rose in 2000

In 2000, 78.5 percent of families maintained by women (no spouse present) included at least one employed person. This proportion was 0.9 percentage point higher than it had been in 1999 and about 9 points higher than in 1994.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among all U.S. families, 83.2 percent of had at least one employed member in 2000. At that time, 84.0 percent of married-couple families included an employed person in 2000, as did 86.5 percent of families maintained by men (no spouse present). All three of these proportions were essentially unchanged from 1999.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. Learn more in "Employment Characteristics of Families in 2000" news release USDL 01-103.