June 8, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment of mothers with infants

The employment of mothers with infants—children under 1 year—was little changed last year, at 53.6 percent. However, among married mothers with infants, the proportion with jobs fell by more than a percentage point, to 55.2 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

In contrast, mothers with other marital statuses experienced a large gain in employment. Last year, 48.4 percent of them worked for pay, up from 43.4 percent in 1997. This rise, combined with the decline in jobholding by married mothers, narrowed the difference in employment by marital status.

Mothers of infants increasingly worked part time in 1998. Of the married mothers, 32.7 percent with jobs were part-time workers, compared to 31.5 percent in 1997. Of the other mothers with jobs, 35.7 percent had part-time schedules last year, compared with 35.5 percent in 1997.

These data on the employment of mothers are produced by the Current Population Survey. "Other marital status" includes never-married, divorced, separated, and widowed. More information can be found in "Employment characteristics of families in 1998," news release USDL 99-146.