May 03, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment of mothers with infants decreases again

Among mothers with infants, the proportion who worked for pay dropped from 52.7 percent in 1999 to 51.0 percent in 2000. This proportion also fell between 1998 and 1999.

[Chart data—TXT]

Of married mothers with infants, the proportion with jobs decreased from 53.7 percent in 1999 to 51.1 percent in 2000. In contrast, unmarried mothers experienced a gain in employment in 2000, as they did in the previous two years. Last year, 50.7 percent of unmarried mothers worked for pay, up from 49.5 percent in 1999. This rise, combined with the decline in jobholding by married mothers, narrowed the difference in employment by marital status to less than one percentage point.

These data on the employment of mothers are produced by the Current Population Survey. "Infants" refers to children under 1 year. "Unmarried mothers" include never-married, divorced, separated, and widowed mothers. More information can be found in "Employment characteristics of families in 2000," news release USDL 01-103.