Of the 3.7 million women with infants under the age of 1 in 1998, 59 percent were in the labor force — a record high and almost double the 31 percent participation rate of 1976, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau.

     In June 1998, Census Bureau data showed that of the 3.7 million women with infants, 36 percent were working full-time, 17 percent were working part-time and 6 percent were actively seeking employment.

     Of the 31.3 million mothers who were without infants and between the ages of 15 to 44, 73 percent were in the labor force in 1998, with 52 percent working full-time, 17 percent working part-time and
4 percent unemployed.

     “The large increase in labor force participation rates by mothers since 1976 is an important reason why child-care issues have been so visible in recent years,” said Amara Bachu, co-author with Martin O’Connell of Fertility of American Women: June 1998.

     In 1998, for the first time since the Census Bureau started recording fertility information, families with children in which both spouses worked became the majority (51 percent) of all married-couple families, compared with 33 percent in 1976.

     Other highlights from the report:

     - The annual fertility rate in the United States in 1900 stood at almost 4.0 births per woman, fell to 2.2 during the Great Depression, bounced back to a postwar peak of 3.7 in 1957, and fell again by half to 1.8 births in the mid-1980s. With minor fluctuations, the rate has remained at about 2.0 births per woman over the last 20 years.

     - Women 40 to 44 years old in 1998 are ending their childbearing years with an average of 1.9 children. This contrasts sharply with women in 1976, who averaged 3.1 births.

     - Among women 40 to 44 years old in 1998, only Hispanic women, with an average of 2.4 births each, had exceeded the level required for natural replacement of the population (about 2.1 births per woman). African American women (2.0 births per woman) and Asian and Pacific Islander women (2.0 births) had fertility levels not significantly different from the replacement level, while White non-Hispanic women (1.8 births) were significantly below replacement level.

     - Foreign-born women 40 to 44 years old complete their childbearing years with an average of 2.2 children each, not significantly different from replacement-level fertility. Women born in this country averaged 1.8 children each.

     - Among all women ages 40 to 44, those who were childless increased from 10 percent in 1976 to 19 percent in 1998. In the 12 months preceding the June 1998 survey, 1.1 million women gave birth out of wedlock, representing 31 percent of all births during this period. About 86 percent of births to teenagers in 1998 were out of wedlock.

     Data are from the June 1998 supplement to the Current Population Survey. Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.

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