Headline

The proportion of children with at least one resident parent employed full-time, full-year increased steadily, from 72 percent in 1990 to 80 percent in 2000, but gradually declined after 2000, standing at 75 percent in 2008. (Table 1)  

Importance

Secure attachment to the labor force, defined here as full-time, full-year employment, is a major contributor to financial stability and well-being for families.  For low-income families, it is not a guarantee of escape from poverty,¹  but it is associated with higher family income and greater access to private health insurance.  Higher income, in turn, is associated with many positive child outcomes including better health, behavior, academic achievement, and financial well-being as adults.²   In particular, deep, persistent and early poverty are related to poorer child development³, though, in some cases, long hours of employment among mothers with very young children has been associated with modestly negative child outcomes.⁴  One study found large drops in family income, and fluctuating incomes, to be associated with a greater risk of behavioral problems and lower reading scores, compared with children in families who had not been poor.⁵

Trends

Increases in secure parental employment during the 1990 to 2000 period were particularly large for children in families headed by single parents, for non-Hispanic black children, and for children in poor families. Since 2000, change in this indicator has been negligible or slightly negative for all groups.  (Figure 1 and Table 1) 

Differences by Family Structure

Among children in 2008 who lived with two married parents 86 percent had at least one parent employed full-time, full-year, compared with 45 percent of children living with single mothers, and 61 percent of children living with single fathers.  (Figure 2)  Children who live in single-parent families are more vulnerable to a parent’s loss of employment than are children living with two married parents.  Secure employment among single mothers increased substantially between 1994 and 2000; however, since then the percentage of single mothers with full-time, year-round employment has changed little.  Among children living with single mothers, the percent whose mother was employed full-time declined slightly from 50 percent in 2002 to 48 percent in 2005.  This decline came after the percentage had increased substantially from 39 percent in 1996 (the year in which welfare reform was first implemented) to 50 percent in 2002. (Figure 1)

Differences by Poverty Status

In 2008, among children living below the poverty line, fewer than one in three children had at least one parent in the household employed full-time, full-year, compared with nearly seven out of eight children at or above the poverty line (30 versus 85 percent). Within each household-type (dual-parent, single-mother, single-father), children in poverty were much less likely than non-poor children to have a securely employed parent.   (Figure 3)

Differences by Race and Hispanic Origin

In 2008, white children were more likely than Hispanic children to have at least one parent employed full-time, full-year (81 versus 68 percent, respectively).  At 61 percent, black children were less likely than either white or Hispanic children to have at least one parent with secure employment. (Table 1)

Differences by Age

Older children are more likely than younger children to have at least one parent employed full-time, full-year.  Among children living in single-mother families in 2008, only 33 percent of children under age six lived with at least one parent employed full-time, full-year, compared with 51 percent of children ages six to 17. (Table 1) Among children living in two-parent households, the share of children living with at least one parent employed full-time, full-year also varies by age, although the disparity is much narrower (84 and 88 percent, respectively).

State and Local Estimates

State-level estimates for the following indicators are available from the KIDS COUNT Data Center   (See Economic Well-Being, Employment & Income)

• the percentage of children living in families where no parent has full-time, full-year employment
• the percentage of children under age six with all available parents in the labor force
• the percentage of children under age six, and children ages 6-12,  with no parent in the labor force
• the percentage of children in immigrant families without secure parental employment
• the percentage of children in immigrant families with all available parents in the labor force
• the percentage of children in immigrant families with no parent in the labor force

 
International Estimates

None.

National Goals

None.

What Works to Make Progress on This Indicator

See Hashim, K. and Moore, K. A. (2007).  What works for increasing family income and parental employment: Lessons from experimental evaluations of programs and interventions.  Child Trends Fact Sheet.  Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2008_05_01_FS_WWFamilyIncome.pdf.

Related Indicators

Children in Working Poor Families

Youth Neither Enrolled in School nor Working

Children in Poverty

Definition

A parent is defined as securely employed if he or she was usually working full-time (at least 35 hours per week) for 50 or more weeks in the most recent calendar year.

Data Sources

Data for 2002-2008: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2010, Table ECON2. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Available at: http://childstats.gov/americaschildren/.
Data for 1980-2001: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2004, Table ECON2. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. http://childstats.gov/americaschildren/pdf/ac2004/econ.pdf

Raw Data Source

Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement (formerly known as the March Supplement)
http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/ads/adsmain.htm

Recommended citation: Child Trends (2010).  Secure Parental Employment. Retrieved from www.childtrendsdatabank.org/?q=node/192 

Last update: July, 2010
 

¹Cauthen, Nancy. 2002. Policies that improve family income matter to children. National Center for Children in Poverty.  http://www.nccp.org/media/iec02a-text.pdf
²Brooks-Gunn, J., and Duncan, G. 1997.  The Effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children. 7(2), pp. 55-71. http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2826/information_show.htm?doc_id=72165

³Moore, K. A., Redd, Z., Burkhauser, M., Mbwana, K., & Collins, A. 2009. Children in poverty: Trends, consequences, and policy options.  Child Trends Research Brief.  www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_04_07_RB_ChildreninPoverty.pdf.
⁴Harvey, E. 1999. Short-term and long-term effects of early parental employment on children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Developmental Psychology. 35, 2 pp.445-459.  This article may be purchased at: http://www.psycinfo.com/psycarticles/1999-10060-012.html
⁵Moore, K, Glei, D., Driscoll, A, Zaslow, M., and Redd, Z. 2002.  Poverty and Welfare Patterns:  Implications for Children.  Journal of Social Policy, 31, 2, 207-227
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