Secure parental employment is a major factor in the financial well-being of families.32 It is associated with higher family income and also has been linked to a number of positive outcomes for children, including better health, education, and social and emotional development.36 One measure of secure parental employment is the percentage of children whose resident parent or parents were employed full time throughout a given year.
Indicator ECON2: Percentage of children ages 0–17 living with at least one parent employed year-round, full time by family structure, 2000–2019
NOTE: Year-round, full-time employment is defined as usually working 35 hours or more per week for 50–52 weeks. The data for 2019 were collected during the global pandemic of 2020. While the U.S. Census Bureau went to great lengths to continue to complete interviews by telephone, the response rate for the survey was negatively impacted. The Census Bureau creates weights designed to adjust for nonresponse, but non-respondents in 2020 are less similar to respondents than in earlier years. Of particular interest, respondents in 2020 had relatively higher income and were more educated than non-respondents. For possible effects on these estimates, please see https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/research-matters/2020/09/pandemic-affect-survey-response.html.
SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
32 Following U.S. Office of Management and Budget Statistical Policy Directive 14, poverty status is determined by comparing a family's (or an unrelated individual's) income to one of 48 dollar amounts called thresholds. The thresholds vary by the size of the family and the members' ages. In 2017, the poverty threshold for a family with two adults and two children was $25,926. For further details, see http://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html.
36 Cauthen, N. K. (2002). Policies that improve family income matter for children. Improving children's economic security: Research findings about increasing family income through employment (Policy Brief No. 1). National Center for Children in Poverty. https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/download/fedora_content/download/ac:127558/CONTENT/text_480.pdf