For release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Thursday, April 26, 2012            USDL-12-0771

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov
                                
                                
          EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES -- 2011


In 2011, 11.5 percent of families included an unemployed person,
falling from a peak of 12.4 percent in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 78.4 million
families, 79.8 percent had at least one employed member in 2011.

These data on employment, unemployment, and family relationships
are collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a
monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000 households. Families 
are classified either as married-couple families or as families 
maintained by women or men without spouses present. For further 
information about the CPS, see the Technical Note.

Families and Unemployment

The number of families with at least one member unemployed
decreased from 9.7 million in 2010 to 9.0 million in 2011. The
proportion of families with an unemployed member also declined
from a peak of 12.4 percent in 2010 to 11.5 percent in 2011. In
2011, black and Hispanic families remained more likely to have an
unemployed member (18.9 and 16.3 percent, respectively) than
white and Asian families (10.4 and 10.9 percent, respectively).
(See table 1.)

Most families with an unemployed member also have at least one
family member who is employed. Among families with an
unemployed member in 2011, 67.2 percent also had an employed
family member, about the same as in 2010. (See table 1.)

Among married-couple families with an unemployed member in 2011,
79.2 percent contained at least one employed family member. Among
families maintained by men (no spouse present) with an unemployed
member, 53.6 percent had an employed member in 2011; for families
maintained by women (no spouse present), the proportion was 45.9
percent. These proportions were little changed from 2010 for the
three family types. (See table 3.)

Families and Employment

The share of families with an employed member edged down from
80.0 percent in 2010 to 79.8 percent in 2011. The likelihood of
having an employed family member declined to 74.2 percent in 
2011 for black families. The share for Asian families rose to 
88.0 percent, while the likelihood for white and Hispanic 
families showed little or no change at 80.2 and 84.2 percent,
respectively. (See table 1.)

In 2011, families maintained by women with no spouse present
remained less likely to have an employed member (71.7 percent)
than married-couple families (81.9 percent) or families maintained
by men with no spouse present (80.2 percent). Both the husband and
wife were employed in 47.5 percent of married-couple families in
2011. The husband was the only worker in 19.9 percent of 
married-couple families, and the wife was the only worker in 
8.3 percent. (See table 2.)

Families with Children

Forty-four percent of all families included children (sons,
daughters, step-children, or adopted children) under age 18.
Among the 34.3 million families with children, 87.2 percent had
an employed parent in 2011, compared with 87.4 percent in 2010.
The mother was employed in 65.9 percent of families maintained by
women with no spouse present in 2011, down from 67.0 percent in
2010. The father was employed in 79.6 percent of families maintained
by men with no spouse present in 2011, up from 75.8 percent in 2010.
Among married-couple families with children, 95.8 percent had an
employed parent in 2011, little changed from the prior year. The
share of married-couple families where both parents worked edged
up to 58.5 percent in 2011 from 58.1 percent in 2010. (See table 4.)

Mothers

The labor force participation rate--the percent of the population
working or looking for work--for all mothers with children under
age 18 was 70.6 percent in 2011, little different from 70.8 percent
in 2010. In 2011, the participation rate for married mothers with
a spouse present (68.7 percent) remained lower than the rate for
mothers with other marital statuses (74.6 percent). (Other marital
status refers to persons who never married or are widowed, divorced,
separated, or married but living apart from their spouse.) Married
mothers were about as likely to be employed as mothers with other
marital statuses in 2011, but their unemployment rate was 
substantially lower--6.0 percent, compared with 15.0 percent for
mothers with other marital statuses. (See table 5.)

Mothers with younger children are less likely to be in the labor
force than mothers with older children. In 2011, the labor force
participation rate of mothers with children under 6 years old
(63.9 percent) was lower than the rate of those whose youngest
child was 6 to 17 years old (76.1 percent). The participation
rate of mothers with infants under a year old was 55.8 percent.
Among mothers with infants, there was little difference in the
participation rate of married mothers (56.9 percent) and those
with other marital statuses (53.2 percent). However, the
unemployment rate for married mothers of infants, at 6.4 percent,
was considerably lower than the rate for mothers with other
marital statuses (24.2 percent). (See tables 5 and 6.)

Technical Note
 
  The estimates in this release are based on annual average data from the
Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS, which is conducted by the U.S.
Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is a monthly survey
of about 60,000 eligible households that provides information on the labor
force status, demographics, and other characteristics of the nation's
civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over.

  The data for 2011 presented in this release are not strictly comparable
with data for 2010 and earlier years because of the introduction in January
2011 of revised population controls used in the CPS. The effect of the
revised population controls on the family estimates is unknown.  However,
the effect of the new controls on the monthly CPS estimates was to decrease
the December 2010 employment level by 472,000 and the unemployment level by
32,000. The updated controls had little or no effect on unemployment rates
and other ratios. Additional information is available from the BLS website
at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#pop.

  Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request: Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay
Service: (800) 877-8339.

Reliability of the estimates

  Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling
error.  When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed,
there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true"
population values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error,
varies depending on the particular sample selected, and this variability
is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-
percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample
will differ by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population
value because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at
the 90-percent level of confidence.

  The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error
can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of
the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the
sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct
information, and errors made in the collection or processing of the data.

  A full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and information
on estimating standard errors is available at
www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm#reliability.
 
Definitions

  Definitions of the principal terms used in this release are presented
below.

  Family. A family is a group of two or more persons residing together who
are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. The
count of families is for "primary" families only, that is, the householder
and all other persons related to and residing with the householder.
Families are classified either as married-couple families or as families
maintained by women or men without spouses. Families include those without
children as well as those with children under 18.

  Householder.  The householder is the family reference person.  This is
the person (or one of the persons) in whose name the housing unit is owned
or rented.  The relationship of other individuals in the household is
defined in terms of relationship to the householder. The race or ethnicity
of the family is determined by that of the householder.

  Married, spouse present; other marital status. These terms denote the
marital status of individuals at the time of interview. Married, spouse
present, refers to husbands and wives living together in the same
household, even though one may be temporarily absent on business, on
vacation, on a visit, in a hospital, or for other reasons. Other marital
status includes persons who are never-married; married, spouse absent; sep-
arated; widowed; or divorced. Separated includes persons with legal
separations, those living apart with intentions of obtaining a divorce, and
other people permanently or temporarily separated because of marital
discord.  Married, spouse absent, includes married people living apart
because either the husband or wife was employed and living at  a
considerable distance from home, was serving away from home in the Armed
Forces, had moved to another area, or had a different place of residence
for any other reason except separation as defined above.

  Children. Data on children refer to own children under age 18 that live
in the household. Included are sons, daughters, step-children, and adopted
children of the husband, wife, or person maintaining the family.  Not
included are nieces, nephews, grandchildren, other related children, and
all unrelated children living in the household.

  Employed.  Employed persons are (a) all those who, during the survey
reference week, did any work at all as paid employees, worked in their own
business, profession, or on their own farm, or who worked 15 hours or more
as unpaid workers in a family-operated enterprise; and (b) all those who
did not work but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily
absent due to illness, bad weather, vacation, child-care problems, labor
disputes, or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time
off and whether or not they were seeking other jobs.

  Unemployed. The unemployed are persons who had no employment during the
reference week, were available for work at that time, and had made specific
efforts to find employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with
the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from
which they had been laid off need not be looking for work to be classified
as unemployed.

  Civilian labor force. The civilian labor force comprises all persons
classified as employed or unemployed.

  Unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a
percent of the civilian labor force.

  Labor force participation rate. The labor force participation rate is
the labor force as a percent of the population.