Working Families and Growing Kids Caring for Children and Adolescents (2003) / Chapter Skim
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2. Work and Family Trends
2. Work and Family Trends
Pages 21-41
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From page 21... ...
It highlights various dimensions of work and family trends, including work schedules, parenting patterns, and family management. Chapter 3 describes the diverse patterns of child care use, as well as details family expenditures on child care, the child care supply, and child care quality.
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From page 23... ...
Historically, economic need has compelled single mothers to enter the paid labor force in larger proportions than married mothers. In recent decades, married mothers -- a group traditionally thought to have more freedom to curtail market work to rear children than single mothers -- have become increasingly likely to remain in the labor force throughout their childrearing years.
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From page 24... ...
Although fertility is being delayed by many women, more than half are likely to become mothers by their early to mid20s, and another third will enter parenthood between age 25 and age 40. One significant change has been the increase in the workforce participation of new mothers.
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From page 25... ...
Shifting attention to slightly older children, children ages 3 to 5, regardless of their mother's employment status, increasingly spend some hours per week in an early education or care setting (e.g., nursery schools, child care centers with an educational curriculum, prekindergartens) , as shown in Figure 2-1.
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From page 26... ...
First, single mothers in most years had higher levels of participation than married mothers. The employment gap by marital status shrank between 1970 and 1995, when, in fact, married mothers had slightly higher employment rates than single mothers.
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From page 27... ...
, (ages (ages (ages and 2-3 mothers numbers Casper children children children women mothers mothers children children children children children children :All with with with with with with with with with TABLE (percentage Total Total Single Married NOTE nonresponse.
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From page 28... ...
. This compositional shift tended to dampen labor force participation rates of single mothers at the same time that higher average education levels of all women, including single mothers, increased the likelihood of employment.
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From page 29... ...
. The implication of these demographic and labor force changes is that a larger fraction of children live in families in which all available parents are in the labor force -- either they live with a single parent who is employed or they live with two parents, both of whom work at least some hours for pay each week.
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From page 30... ...
25-44) are (ages and ages ages ages ages ages ages ages ages (ages (ages (ages 2-6 numbers Casper (average mothers children children children All women mothers mothers children children children children children : with with with with with with with with TABLE Child Total Total Single Married NOTE nonresponse.
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From page 31... ...
. This suggests that, at least when young children are at home, married mothers continue to reduce their hours of employment or even drop out of the labor force altogether for a short time.
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From page 32... ...
Time diary evidence on fathers' participation in child care suggests greater change than in housework, at least among married fathers. Such data allow for three measures of father's participation in child care: the time they spend primarily engaged in a direct child care activity, the time they spend either directly focusing on child care or doing a child care activity in conjunction with something else, and finally, the overall time they spend with their children whether engaged in child care or not (the most inclusive category)
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From page 33... ...
WORK AND FAMILY TRENDS 33 2000 2.0 3.4 2.5 4.9 2.9 9.4 0.7 0.3 0.7 1.6 1.1 Time Father's 1995 1.7 3.9 3.5 6.8 4.0 3.8 0.6 0.3 0.3 0.4 1.2 to Time 1985 2.0 4.4 4.2 4.6 3.7 8.7 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.7 0.8 3.1 0.3 0.3 0.2 1.0 0.6 Mother's 1975 12.3 10.0 11.4 14.8 17.6 of 7.3 1.0 0.5 0.3 2.4 2.4 Ratio 1965 18.5 13.8 14.0 23.0 34.5 9.5 4.4 2.2 0.3 1.6 0.4 5.1 2.0 1.4 0.4 1.3 2000 472 week) 3.9 1.5 0.1 1.6 0.6 6.9 2.3 1.9 1.1 1.6 10.8 1995 181 per 4.0 1.8 0.4 1.5 0.3 6.3 1.3 2.3 0.9 1.8 10.3 1985 699 hours 7.5 1.8 0.9 0.2 0.5 0.2 5.8 1.0 3.2 0.4 1.1 1975 480 (average Fathers 4.4 1.6 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.2 2.8 0.6 1.3 0.2 0.7 All 1965 337 Parent 5.4 1.3 4.8 3.3 3.8 0.7 1.0 0.7 1.5 18.6 14.8 of 2000 728 5.3 0.8 6.5 2.4 3.8 0.7 0.7 0.5 2.0 18.8 15.0 1995 312 Gender by 7.5 1.9 5.5 2.7 2.9 0.4 0.5 0.6 1.4 20.5 17.6 1985 913 8.7 2.5 7.1 3.4 2.0 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.7 23.7 21.7 1975 607 Housework Mothers 4.8 8.1 6.2 3.0 0.3 0.4 0.5 1.8 32.1 29.2 10.1 in All 1965 405 care Trends ironing animal financial 2-7 meals and chores and cleanup other size housework housework housework Cooking Meal Housecleaning Laundry Outdoor Repairs Garden Bills, TABLE Total Core Other Sample xxx
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From page 34... ...
NOTES: Estimates based on one-day, "yesterday" time diaries collected from 326 married fathers in 1965-1966, 194 married fathers in 1998-1999, all with children under age 18 at the time of the interview. Child care includes: child and baby care, helping/teaching children, talking/reading to children, indoor/outdoor play with children, medical/travel/other child related care.
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From page 35... ...
1965 1998 FIGURE 2-3 Change in mothers' hours of child care and time with children. NOTES: Estimates based on one-day, "yesterday" time diaries collected from 417 mothers in 1965-1966, 273 mothers in 1998-1999, all with children under age 18 at the time of the interview.
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From page 36... ...
Although good trend data are not available, it is estimated from the May 1997 Current Population Survey (the most recent year of available data) that one-fifth of all employed people in the United States work most of their hours in the evenings, during nights, on weekends, on a rotating schedule, or have highly variable hours (see Box 2-1 for shift definitions)
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From page 37... ...
. There is a large body of literature on the health consequences for individuals who work nights and rotate shifts because of its effect on circa TABLE 2-8 Percentage of Married Couples with at Least One Spouse Who Works Nonstandard Hours At least one earner 23.8 At least one earner and Child < age 14 25.8 Child < 5 30.6 Two earners only 27.8 Two earners and Child < age 14 31.1 Child < 5 34.7 NOTES: Based on data from the May 1997 Current Population Survey.
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From page 38... ...
This includes mothers who move from welfare to work, who often experience a lack of correspondence between their required hours and days of employment and the availability of formal child care arrangements (Presser and Cox, 1997)
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From page 39... ...
suggests that nonstandard work schedules have a negative effect on marital stability. Furthermore, Presser (2000)
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From page 40... ...
In addition, the proportion of preschool-age children who spend at least some hours per week in nonparental care settings has risen rapidly for employed and nonemployed mothers alike. An increasing proportion of children live in households in which all available adults are in the labor force, either in single-parent families or in two-parent, dual-earner families.
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From page 41... ...
Working nonstandard hours complicates child care arrangements and may place additional strains on the family. Marital quality is lower and marital disruption is higher when couples work evening or rotating shifts.
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