Mothers Are Increasingly Working Full-Time

Yes, I get it, mothers have always been working full-time, but this story is about paid work out in the labor force. Juliana Menasce Horowitz of Pew Research has just posted an analysis that combines data for the U.S. from Current Population Surveys with Pew Research survey data. The results are not necessarily surprising, but they nicely illustrate what we can see going on around us. 

First, the shift in mothers with children under age 18 who are working full-time:

You can see that there has been a substantial increase in the percentage of mothers who are working in the last half century, and all of that increase has been among women employed full time. Some of this is obviously related to the decline in fertility over that time. Fertility was already on its way down in the U.S. in 1968, but the total fertility rate was still well above replacement, whereas it is now below replacement.

The second part of the story, drawing on Pew Research survey data, is that attitudes toward mixing work and parenthood are generally positive. To be sure, there are downsides, especially among mothers compared to fathers (for whom working and being a parent has, of course, long been the norm). Children can slow down promotions at work, and work can lead parents to feel guilty about not spending enough time with their kids. The survey results also exhibit a lot of variability among respondents in attitudes toward women combining work and parenthood, but the employment patterns among mothers--as shown in the above graph--tell us what mothers themselves must be thinking.