U S C E N S U S B U R E A U

Helping You Make Informed Decisions

Demographic Programs

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Fertility of American Women: 

June 2000

Population Characteristics

Issued October 2001

Current

Population

Reports

By

Amara Bachu and 

Martin O’Connell

P20-543RV

INTRODUCTION CURRENT FERTILITY 

This report profiles current fertility pat- Overall patterns of fertility

terns of American women and is based on

Table 1 shows fertility levels for women in data collected in the June 2000 supplement to the Current Population Survey June 2000 by age, race, and Hispanic origin.2 Of the 60.9 million women who (CPS). Unlike annual fertility statistics were 15 to 44 years old in June 2000, compiled from birth certificates by the 3.9 million gave birth in the preceding National Center for Health Statistics

12 months, of which 1.6 million births (NCHS), data collected in the CPS are from

were first births.3 This produced an esti- two questions asked of women 15 to 44 mated fertility rate of 65 births per 1,000 years old: (1) the number of children they women 15 to 44 years old and a corre- have ever had, and (2) the date of birth of

sponding first birth rate of 27 births per their last child. The report provides cur- 1,000 women. The fertility rate in this rent estimates of fertility and out-of-wed- report is defined as the number of women lock childbearing, highlighting differences who reported having a child in the among women by race, ethnicity, and 12-month period ending in June 2000 per nativity status. Historical data from previ- 1,000 women in the specified age and/or ous surveys are also used in this report to characteristic group at the time of the sur- show the fluctuations since 1990 in the

vey. labor force participation rate of women

with children under 1 year of age. Overall, 43 percent of women in the childbearing ages were childless in 2000. Data from NCHS indicate that the fertility Among women 40 to 44 years old (who rates have fluctuated sharply since the were nearing the completion of their peak of the Baby Boom in the late 1950s childbearing years), 19 percent were when women were having children at a childless, almost twice as high as among rate of more than 3.5 births per woman.

same age in By the mid-1970s, the total fertility rate1 women who were of the 

1980 (10 percent). Women 40 to 44 fell by one-half to about 1.8 births per years in 2000 will probably end their woman. During the 1990s, fertility rates

fluctuated between 2.0 and 2.1 births per

woman, a rate still below the level 2 The estimates in this report are based on responses

from a sample of the population. As with all surveys, required for the natural replacement of estimates may vary from the actual (population) values

the population (about 2.1 births per because of sampling variation, or other factors. All

statements made in this report have undergone statisti- woman). cal testing and meet Census Bureau standards for statistical accuracy. 3 Preliminary vital statistics estimates for the calen- 1 The total fertility rate for a given year is a hypo- dar year 2000 indicate that there were almost 4.1 milthetical estimate of completed fertility. It indicates how lion births, of which 1.6 million were first births (Joyce

many births a woman would have by the end of her A. Martin, et al., “Births: Preliminary Data for 2000.”

reproductive life, if, for all of her childbearing years, she National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 49, No. 5. National

was to experience the age-specific birth rates for that Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD, 2001, Table

given year. 2).
2 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 1.

Fertility Indicators for Women 15to 44 Years Old by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin:

June 2000

(Numbers in thousands)

Characteristic

Number

of

women

Percent

childless

Women who had a child in the last year

First births

per 1,000

women

Children ever

born per

1,000 women

Births per 1,000 women

Number 90-percent

with confidence

a birth Rate interval

AGE

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

RACE AND ETHNICITY

White

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

White non-Hispanic

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Asian and Pacific Islander

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hispanic (of any race)

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 34 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35 to 39 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

40 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

60,873

9,818

9,258

9,227

9,915

11,208

11,447

48,506

7,735

7,287

7,210

7,883

9,077

9,314

40,939

6,389

6,025

5,874

6,636

7,805

8,209

8,939

1,569

1,453

1,413

1,433

1,557

1,514

2,819

392

422

517

497

477

514

8,002

1,426

1,334

1,395

1,342

1,342

1,162

42.8

90.5

63.6

44.2

28.1

20.1

19.0

43.1

91.3

66.5

44.7

28.0

19.7

19.2

44.8

92.8

71.1

48.8

30.0

20.5

20.3

39.0

85.6

46.1

36.4

24.9

21.6

17.7

51.1

95.9

75.7

61.2

40.0

25.1

21.6

34.6

84.2

44.6

27.5

18.9

15.3

10.9

3,934

586

850

996

871

506

125

3,173

447

650

843

730

413

89

2,457

322

455

667

596

353

65

565

110

159

110

94

66

25

154

16

25

35

43

24

10

761

132

212

185

141

64

28

64.6

59.7

91.8

107.9

87.9

45.1

10.9

65.4

57.8

89.2

116.9

92.6

45.5

9.6

60.0

50.3

75.5

113.5

89.8

45.2

7.9

63.2

70.1

109.4

78.2

65.5

42.5

16.6

54.6

40.9

59.8

67.9

87.2

49.7

20.2

95.1

92.5

158.9

132.7

105.0

47.4

23.8

62.1 - 67.1

53.8 - 65.6

84.4 - 99.2

99.9 - 115.9

80.9 - 94.9

40.3 - 49.9

8.5 - 13.3

62.6 - 68.2

51.3 - 64.3

81.0 - 97.4

107.6 - 126.2

84.6 - 100.6

40.1 - 50.9

7.1 - 12.1

57.1 - 62.9

43.6 - 57.0

68.6 - 82.4

105.0 - 122.0

80.2 - 99.4

37.2 - 53.2

2.3 - 13.5

60.9 - 65.5

54.2 - 86.0

89.2 - 129.6

60.6 - 95.8

49.4 - 81.6

29.9 - 55.1

8.5 - 24.7

44.1 - 65.1

16.3 - 65.5

31.4 - 88.2

40.7 - 95.1

56.0 - 118.4

25.2 - 74.2

4.9 - 35.5

84.2 - 106.0

66.9 - 118.1

125.6 - 192.2

102.4 - 163.0

77.1 - 132.9

28.1 - 66.7

8.9 - 38.7

26.7

38.7

47.1

43.7

27.5

9.6

2.3

27.2

37.2

47.4

49.4

30.2

8.3

1.7

25.1

31.1

40.8

51.2

30.3

8.2

1.9

21.9

48.8

40.9

13.6

13.1

11.1

3.1

31.1

15.6

52.9

45.6

32.6

27.4

12.2

38.6

64.4

79.8

43.0

27.7

10.0

-

1,218

131

572

1,049

1,549

1,839

1,913

1,205

119

522

1,018

1,521

1,851

1,892

1,147

102

447

910

1,425

1,789

1,806

1,350

197

887

1,305

1,869

1,838

2,040

966

85

334

715

1,028

1,572

1,788

1,510

206

885

1,465

1,992

2,183

2,546

- Represents zero or rounds to zero.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.
childbearing years with an average

of 1.9 children, a level below that

required for the natural replacement

of the population.4 This average is

about one child less than the average for women in this same age

group in 1980 (3.0 children).

Fertility differences by race 

and ethnicity

Hispanic5 women had the highest

fertility rate among all race and origin groups shown in Table 1 

(95 births per 1,000 women 15 to

44 years old). Among Hispanic

women, 761,000 had a birth in the

year prior to the survey, representing 19 percent of all births in 2000.

The proportion of all women 15 to

44 years old who were Hispanic in

2000 was 13 percent. The fertility

rate for White non-Hispanic women

was considerably lower (60 births

per 1,000 women) than for Hispanic

women (95 births per 1,000

women).

Among women 40 to 44 years old

in 2000, only Hispanic women, with

an average of 2.5 births, exceeded

the level required for the natural

replacement of the population

(about 2.1 births per woman).

Black women had a fertility level

not significantly different from the

replacement level, while White nonHispanic women and Asian and

Pacific Islander women were significantly below replacement level and

averaged only 1.8 births.

Corresponding to their relatively

U.S. Census Bureau 3

4 The level required for the natural replacement of the population is the average number

of children a woman must have to replace herself with a female living to the average age of

childbearing. Taking into account that slightly

more boy than girl babies are born and that not

all children survive to the childbearing ages,

this level is about 2.1 births per woman. 5 People of Hispanic origin may be of any

race. Data for the American Indian and Alaska

Native population are not shown in this report

because of the small sample size in the CPS.

Based on the population of women 15 to 44

years old surveyed in the June 2000 CPS, 3.0

percent of the Black population and 1.9 percent

of the Asian and Pacific Islander population

were also of Hispanic origin.

high level of completed fertility,

only 11 percent of Hispanic women

40 to 44 years old were childless

compared with 20 percent of White

non-Hispanic women. 

Fertility differences by

nativity status

Table 2 shows that in June 2000,

there were 7.9 million foreign-born6

women 15 to 44 years old in the

United States, representing 13 percent of women in the childbearing

ages. In the year prior to the survey, 673,000 foreign-born women

gave birth, resulting in a fertility

rate of 85 births per 1,000 women.

Forty-two percent of births to foreign-born women were first births.

The fertility rate for native women

was considerably lower at 62 births

per 1,000 women, although a similar proportion of births (41 percent)

to these women were first births. 

Higher fertility rates for foreignborn women are due primarily to

higher age-specific fertility rates for

women in the principal childbearing

years of 20 to 34 years old (Figure

1). In 2000, 69 percent of births

were to women 20 to 34 years old.

In the age groups 20 to 24 years

old through 30 to 34 years old, fertility rates for foreign-born women

exceeded those for native women

by approximately 30 births per

1,000 women.

Among foreign-born women, those

of Hispanic origin had a considerably higher fertility rate in 2000

(112 births per 1,000 women) than

those not of Hispanic origin (61

births per 1,000 women), and a

higher average number of births

per woman (1.8 births per woman

6 In this report, “native” is used to designate

people born in the United States, Puerto Rico,

the outlying areas or territories of the United

States, or who were born abroad to parents, at

least one of whom was a U.S. citizen. “Foreign

born” refers to all other people. The present

Current Population Survey sample does not

include Puerto Rico.

and 1.2 births per woman), respectively7

. Consistent with their higher

fertility rates, foreign-born Hispanic

women were less likely to be childless (25 percent) than were foreignborn women not of Hispanic origin

(42 percent). Sixty-three percent of

births to foreign-born women in

2000 were to women of Hispanic

origin, although they represented

only 48 percent of foreign-born

women in the childbearing ages.

Among native women, fertility rates

for Hispanic women were higher

than those of non-Hispanic women

(80 births per 1,000 and 60 births

per 1,000, respectively) as were the

average number of children born

per woman (1.3 births per woman

and 1.2 births per woman, respectively). However, levels of childlessness were not significantly different

between the two groups of native

women.

OUT-OF-WEDLOCK

CHILDBEARING

Annual estimates for 2000

Estimates from the June CPS 2000

indicate that approximately 1.2 million women gave birth out of wedlock in the 12-month period preceding the survey, which represented

31 percent of all births during this

period. About 1.1 million births

were to never-married women,

while 163,000 were to women widowed or divorced at the time of the

survey (see Table 2). These estimates may vary slightly from those

reported by the NCHS, because

marital status in the CPS is recorded

at the time of the survey and not at

7 In order to control for differences in the

age distributions of Hispanic and non-Hispanic

immigrants, the total fertility for each of these

populations was constructed from age-specific

fertility rates from the June CPS. Hispanic

women who were foreign born had an estimated total rate of 3.4 births per woman compared

with1.8 births per woman for non-Hispanic

women who were foreign born. Also, see footnote 1.
4 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 2.

Fertility Indicators for Women 15to 44 Years Old by Selected Characteristics: June 2000

(Numbers in thousands)

Women who had a child in the last year

Characteristic First births Children ever

Number of Percent Number Births per per 1,000 born per

women childless with a birth 1,000 women women 1,000 women

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,873 42.8 3,934 64.6 26.7 1,218

MARITAL STATUS

Currently married. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,497 18.7 2,708 88.8 35.5 1,785

Married - husband present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28,215 18.3 2,561 90.8 37.0 1,782

Married - husband absent1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,282 22.8 147 64.5 16.6 1,821

Divorced or Widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,281 21.3 163 31.0 6.8 1,677

Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,095 76.7 1,063 42.3 20.2 431

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Not a high school graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,006 58.2 920 70.7 29.5 1,032

High school, graduate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,205 28.7 1,204 70.0 29.5 1,515

College, 1 or more years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,662 44.2 1,810 59.0 24.0 1,130

No degree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,603 45.4 651 51.6 19.2 1,134

Associate degree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,955 31.9 300 60.6 23.6 1,401

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,926 48.0 612 61.7 27.7 1,018

Graduate or professional degree . . . . . . . . . . 3,178 46.9 247 77.7 32.0 1,039

LABOR FORCE STATUS

In labor force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,862 43.4 2,170 49.5 21.3 1,167

Employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,369 42.9 1,972 47.7 20.7 1,171

Unemployed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,493 50.5 198 79.4 31.1 1,088

Not in labor force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,011 41.5 1,764 103.7 40.6 1,349

ANNUAL FAMILY INCOME2

Under $ 10,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,249 39.4 369 86.8 32.5 1,394

$10,000 to $19,999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,203 37.9 464 74.8 25.3 1,413

$20,000 to $24,999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,439 38.6 262 76.2 37.3 1,319

$25,000 to $29,999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,761 39.9 297 78.9 34.0 1,243

$30,000 to $34,999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,572 43.6 223 62.4 27.3 1,179

$35,000 to $49,999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,864 41.3 576 64.9 25.3 1,227

$50,000 to $74,999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,646 42.2 652 61.2 26.8 1,218

$75,000 and over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,506 48.2 751 60.1 24.3 1,066

REGION OF RESIDENCE

Northeast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,282 46.2 686 60.8 24.9 1,126

Midwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,026 43.3 867 61.8 26.4 1,230

South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,692 40.7 1,433 66.0 27.5 1,226

West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,872 42.9 949 68.4 27.3 1,267

METROPOLITAN RESIDENCE

Metropolitan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,201 44.1 3,225 64.2 26.8 1,182

In central cities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18,754 46.8 1,217 64.9 28.5 1,136

Outside central cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31,447 42.5 2,008 63.8 25.8 1,210

Nonmetropolitan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,672 36.7 709 66.4 26.4 1,384

NATIVITY AND HISPANIC ORIGIN

Native. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53,001 44.1 3,262 61.5 25.4 1,182

Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,231 42.8 338 79.8 32.6 1,287

Not Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48,770 44.2 2,924 59.9 24.8 1,173

Foreign born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,871 34.1 673 85.4 35.7 1,459

Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,770 25.3 423 112.3 45.3 1,760

Not Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,101 42.2 249 60.8 26.9 1,183

1

Includes separated women.

2

Data not shown for people with family income not reported.

Note: Since the number of women who have had a birth during the 12-month period was tabulated and not the actual numbers of births

themselves, a small underestimation of fertility for this period may exist because of the omission of: (1) Multiple births; (2) more than one

live birth occurring to a woman in a 12-month period (the woman is counted only once); (3) women who had births in the period and who

died by the survey date; (4) women who were in institutions and therefore not in the survey universe; and (5) 2 percent of births in a

12-month period (only 51 weeks of data are tabulated in the CPS due to the interview schedule). These losses may be somewhat offset by

the inclusion in the CPS of births to immigrants who did not have their children born in the United States and births to nonresident women

who had their children born in the United States. These births would not have been recorded in the vital registration system. The ages of

the women in this table and similar tables in this report refer to the age of women at the time of the survey and not at the birth of child.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.
the time of the actual birth.8 Some

women in the CPS who had a birth

in the last year may have subsequently married or divorced by the

time of the survey. In addition, outof-wedlock birth data from NCHS

are recorded by the physician on

the birth certificate at the time of

the child’s birth, whereas CPS estimates of out-of-wedlock births are

based on the information provided

by the respondent at the time of the

interview.

Characteristics of women with

an out-of-wedlock birth

Out-of-wedlock childbearing occurs

most frequently among younger

U.S. Census Bureau 5

8 Preliminary vital statistics estimates for calendar year 2000 indicate that there were 1.3

million births to unmarried women (all ages) or

33 percent of all births. (Joyce A. Martin, et al.,

“Births: Final Data for 2000.” National Vital

Statistics Report, Vol. 49, No. 5. National Center

for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD, 2001,

Table C).

women — 83 percent of births to

teenagers in 2000 were out-of-wedlock (see Figure 2). Forty-four percent of births to women in their

early twenties were out-of-wedlock,

with the proportion declining to 

13 percent for women 30 years and

over. The majority (62 percent) of

births to Black women in 2000 were

out-of-wedlock, compared with 

30 percent for Hispanic women and

26 percent for White non-Hispanic

women. The proportion of births

born out-of-wedlock among foreignborn women was considerably

lower (18 percent) than among

native women (34 percent). 

Figure 2 shows also that there is an

inverse relationship between educational attainment and the proportion of births out-of-wedlock. In

2000, the proportion ranged from

54 percent among mothers who

had not graduated from high school

to only 4 percent among women

who had either a bachelor’s degree

or graduate/ professional degree. 

LABOR FORCE

CHARACTERISTICS OF

MOTHERS WITH INFANTS

Change in labor force patterns

since 1976 

The labor force participation rate

for women with infants was 55 percent in 2000, down from an all-time

high of 59 percent in 1998.9

However, the overall participation

rate was still much higher than

when first recorded by the Census

Bureau in 1976 (31 percent). From

1976 to 1998, the labor force participation rate for women with

infants either increased or did not

change significantly between successive reporting periods. The

decline from 1998 to 2000 is the

first significant decline in the 1976

to 2000 period.

In June 2000, there were 2,170,000

women in the labor force who had

infants — 1,972,000 (91 percent) of

these women were employed at the

time of the survey, while another

198,000 were unemployed.

Changes in the labor force participation of women with infants are

important as they could signal

changes in the demand for child

care arrangements, changes in child

rearing and further childbearing and

spacing patterns, and the demand

for employer-sponsored maternity

leave benefits.

9 The Labor force participation rate is

defined as the percentage of people in a specified population group who are either

employed or looking for work. Infants are

defined as children under 1 year or 12

months old. The Census Bureau first published labor force participation rates for mothers with infants in 1976. For a time series of

annual births to women in the labor force

from CPS surveys since 1976, see U.S. Census

Bureau, “Women 15 to 44 Years Old Who Have

Had a Child in the Last Year and Their

Percentage in the Labor Force: Selected Years,

June 1976 to Present.” www.census.gov/

population/socdemo/fertility.html. Click on

Table H5 at this URL address. 

Figure 1.

Fertility Rates by Age and Nativity: June 2000

Note: Refers to women who had a birth in the preceding 12 months.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.

(Births per 1,000 women)

88

120

132

117

48

20

58

88

103

82

45

10

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44

Age

Native

Foreign born
Table 3 shows trends in the labor

force participation of mothers with

infants from 1990 to 2000. In 1990

and 1994, the overall labor force

participation rate was 53 percent.

The only group that had a significant

increase in their labor force participation in this period was women who

were other than “married - husband

present” — from 44 percent in 1990

to 50 percent in 1994.

During the next 4-year period, from

1994 to 1998, labor force participation rates increased among many

groups. Overall, the rate increased

from 53 percent in 1994 to 59 percent. Significant increases in labor

force participation occurred among

women 25 years old and over,

women with two or more children,

Black women, both married women

and unmarried women, and women

who were high school graduates. 

From 1998 to 2000, the overall

labor force participation rate of

mothers with infants dropped from

59 percent to 55 percent.

Significant declines in labor force

participation rates occurred in this

period among mothers 30 years old

and over, mothers who were White,

and mothers who had 1 or more

years of college. While the rate for

married mothers during this period

declined from 60 to 54 percent —

back to its 1994 level — the rate for

unmarried mothers remained

unchanged in 2000 at 57 percent. 

In contrast, younger mothers, Black

mothers, Hispanic mothers, and

mothers who had a high school

education or less did not experience a decline in their labor or participation rates. Whether these

diverging trends are short-lived or

will continue depends to a considerable extent on future changes in the

economy and changes in the

lifestyles of new mothers in balancing their time between work and

child rearing activities.

Labor force participation likelihood of being employed.

among mothers Mothers who had a child in the last

year recorded lower labor force par- Table 4 shows the degree of labor

ticipation rates (55 percent) than force participation of mothers 15 to

did other mothers (74 percent). 44 years old who have had a child

in their lifetime by whether or not

Women who seek to return to work they had a child between July 1999

shortly after giving birth have differ- and June 2000. Labor force particient maternal responsibilities that are pation rates of mothers, rather than

not shared by women with older of all women, are used in this comchildren. Mothers with infants may parison as children require attention

want to return to work, but at lower and daily supervision, time conlevels of activity, to devote more straints which are not shared by

time to providing care in the first childless women. These family

months after childbirth. Figure 3, activities, in turn, influence the

6 U.S. Census Bureau

Figure 2.

Births Out of Wedlock: June 2000

Note: Refers to women who had a birth in the preceding 12 months.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.

(Percent of all births to women in specified categories born out of wedlock)

Foreign born

Native

Graduate or professional degree

Bachelor's degree

Associate degree

Some college, no degree

High school graduate

Not a high school graduate

Hispanic (of any race)

Asian and Pacific Islander

Black

White, not Hispanic

30 to 44 years old

25 to 29 years old

20 to 24 years old

15 to 19 years old

All women 31

83

44

17

13

26

62

15

30

54

37

32

13

4

4

34

18

AGE

RACE AND ETHNICITY

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

NATIVITY
shows that a lower proportion of

mothers with infants were employed

full time10 than were mothers without infants. Among mothers with

infants, twice as many were

employed full time (34 percent) as

were employed part time (17 percent) compared with mothers without infant children where full-time

workers were three times as common (54 percent) as part-time workers (16 percent). Relatively high

U.S. Census Bureau 7

10 Full-time workers are employed people

who work 35 or more hours per week.

ratios of full to part-time higher for college-educated women

employment generally exist for than for women with a high school

mothers with infants in all age education or less. In 2000, 64 pergroups — except for teenage moth- cent of women with 1 or more

ers. At these young ages, where years of college who had a child in

schooling may compete with the the previous year were in the labor

labor force for nonfamilial activities, force, compared with 55 percent for

part-time work rather than full-time high school graduates and only 

work is more frequent. 39 percent for women who were

not high school graduates.

Differences in full-time and

part-time employment by Women with a graduate or profescharacteristics of mothers sional degree were three times as

likely to work at full-time jobs than Labor force participation among at part-time jobs. Among women women with infants is appreciably

Table 3.

Changes in Labor Force Participation Among Mothers 15to 44 Years Old With Infants by

Selected Charactoristics: June 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2000

(Numbers in thousands. Limited to women with at least one child ever born)

Characteristic

Mothers in the labor force

Percentage

point

difference

1998-

2000

Percentage

point

difference

1994-

1998

Percentage

point

difference

1990-

1994

2000 1998 1994 1990

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AGE

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

30 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BIRTH ORDER

First birth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Second or higher order birth . . . .

RACE AND ETHNICITY

White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

White non-Hispanic. . . . . . . . . .

Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Asian and Pacific Islander . . . . . .

Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . .

MARITAL STATUS

Married - husband present . . . . .

All other1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 2

Not a high school graduate . . . . .

High school, 4 years . . . . . . . . . . .

College, 1 or more years . . . . . . .

Some college or associate

degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bachelor’s degree and above .

3,934

586

850

996

1,502

1,626

2,308

3,173

2,457

565

154

761

2,561

1,374

920

1,204

1,810

951

859

55.2

46.0

51.9

59.5

57.7

57.5

53.5

53.1

56.8

65.8

56.3

41.8

54.1

57.2

39.0

55.0

63.5

63.2

63.8

3,671

460

864

950

1,397

1,490

2,181

2,947

2,374

554

138

618

2,424

1,247

793

1,034

1,844

978

866

58.7

43.2

56.4

61.9

63.0

60.8

57.3

58.4

61.6

63.0

49.9

45.7

59.5

57.1

37.7

58.4

67.9

67.3

68.5

3,890

397

938

1,054

1,501

1,647

2,242

3,107

2,534

567

112

644

2,748

1,142

832

1,303

1,754

981

773

53.1

39.3

51.0

54.5

57.1

59.0

48.9

55.4

59.2

47.0

37.7

37.7

54.5

49.7

33.5

48.1

66.2

63.3

69.6

3,913

338

1,038

1,192

1,346

1,540

2,374

3,148

(NA)

615

101

491

2,826

1,088

816

1,588

1,509

777

732

52.8

42.8

45.5

55.3

58.9

59.7

48.4

54.5

(NA)

46.9

48.0

43.8

56.4

43.5

31.5

51.9

65.3

62.8

68.0

*–3.5

2.8

–4.5

–2.4

*–5.3

–3.3

–3.8

*–5.3

*–4.8

2.8

6.4

–3.9

*–5.4

0.1

1.3

–3.4

*–4.4

–4.1

–4.7

*5.6

3.9

5.4

*7.4

*5.9

1.8

*8.4

3.0

(NA)

*16.0

12.2

8.0

*5.0

*7.4

4.2

*10.3

1.7

4.0

–1.1

0.3

–3.5

5.5

–0.8

–1.8

–0.7

0.5

0.9

(NA)

0.1

–10.3

–6.1

–1.9

*6.2

2.0

–3.8

0.9

0.5

1.6

* Indicates significant difference at the 90-percent confidence level.

– Represents zero or rounds to zero.

NA Not available.

1

Includes married spouse absent, separated, divorced, widowed, and never married women.

2

Educational attainment categories in 1990 based on years of school completed.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.
8 U.S. Census Bureau

Table 4.

Labor Force Participation Among Mothers 15to 44 Years Old by Fertility Status and

Selected Characteristics: June 2000

(Numbers in thousands. Limited to women with at least one child ever born)

Mothers who had a child in the last year Mothers who did not have a child in the last year

Percent in labor force Percent in labor force Characteristic Number Number

of Full Part Unem- of Full Part Unemmothers Total time time ployed mothers Total time time ployed

Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,934 55.2 33.5 16.6 5.0 30,871 73.5 54.2 16.0 3.4

AGE

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 46.0 14.5 20.3 11.2 347 54.7 23.0 22.4 9.3

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 51.9 31.2 13.4 7.2 2,517 70.4 48.2 15.0 7.2

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 996 59.5 40.7 15.2 3.6 4,156 70.8 51.9 15.5 3.5

30 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,502 57.7 37.4 18.0 2.3 23,851 74.5 55.6 16.0 2.8

BIRTH ORDER AND AGE OF

WOMAN

First birth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,626 57.5 34.4 18.3 4.8 9,341 77.9 60.1 14.1 3.6

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 47.0 15.6 21.8 9.5 296 53.6 23.1 21.2 9.2

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 52.2 29.3 15.5 7.4 1,547 73.5 53.8 13.4 6.3

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 68.6 49.3 17.8 1.5 1,769 77.3 58.7 15.7 3.0

30 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 61.9 42.7 18.5 0.7 5,729 80.4 64.2 13.5 2.8

Second or higher order birth . . . . 2,308 53.5 32.8 15.5 5.2 21,529 71.6 51.6 16.7 3.2

15 to 19 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 44.2 12.4 17.4 14.4 50 (B) (B) (B) (B)

20 to 24 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 51.7 33.3 11.2 7.1 969 65.3 39.2 17.5 8.6

25 to 29 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 53.3 34.8 13.5 5.1 2,387 66.1 46.9 15.3 3.8

30 to 44 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,095 56.1 35.4 17.8 2.9 18,123 72.6 52.9 16.9 2.9

RACE AND ETHNICITY

White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,173 53.1 30.9 17.7 4.5 24,422 72.4 52.0 17.6 2.8

White non-Hispanic. . . . . . . . . . 2,457 56.8 32.4 20.6 3.8 20,161 74.4 52.8 19.0 2.5

Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 65.8 44.8 12.2 8.7 4,885 78.8 63.6 9.0 6.3

Asian and Pacific Islander . . . . . . 154 56.3 39.9 13.7 2.7 1,224 71.8 56.9 11.5 3.3

Hispanic (of any race) . . . . . . . . . 761 41.8 27.7 7.5 6.6 4,475 64.1 48.7 11.0 4.4

MARITAL STATUS

Married - husband present . . . 2,561 54.1 33.9 17.7 2.5 20,485 70.6 50.5 18.0 2.2

Married - husband absent,

separated, divorced or

widowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 60.8 44.4 11.4 5.0 5,604 80.9 65.4 10.6 4.9

Never married . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,063 56.1 29.2 15.7 11.1 4,781 76.8 56.7 13.5 6.6

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Not a high school graduate . . . 920 39.0 18.2 12.3 8.5 4,517 56.5 37.1 12.8 6.7

High school, 4 years . . . . . . . . . 1,204 55.0 32.1 16.0 6.9 11,060 74.4 56.8 14.4 3.2

College, 1 or more years . . . . . 1,810 63.5 42.2 19.3 2.0 15,294 77.8 57.3 18.0 2.5

No degree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 64.9 41.1 19.4 4.4 6,230 76.8 57.3 16.2 3.3

Associate degree. . . . . . . . . . 300 59.5 40.2 19.0 0.4 3,075 81.5 59.7 19.6 2.2

Bachelor’s degree . . . . . . . . . 612 63.2 41.3 21.3 0.7 4,548 75.4 54.8 18.6 2.0

Graduate or professional

degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 65.2 50.0 14.3 0.9 1,441 81.8 60.2 20.6 1.0

ANNUAL FAMILY INCOME1

Under $10,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 50.6 20.6 12.9 17.1 2,208 54.2 26.8 16.5 10.9

$10,000 to $19,999. . . . . . . . . . 464 39.5 24.6 8.8 6.1 3,390 66.4 48.5 11.8 6.1

$20,000 to $24,999. . . . . . . . . . 262 46.5 31.2 10.9 4.5 1,849 73.2 56.8 12.6 3.8

$25,000 to $29,999. . . . . . . . . . 297 56.5 31.5 20.0 5.0 1,964 76.6 60.4 13.4 2.7

$30,000 to $34,999. . . . . . . . . . 223 52.4 27.9 20.2 4.3 1,790 71.6 52.6 15.8 3.1

$35,000 to $49,999. . . . . . . . . . 576 55.2 33.2 19.1 3.0 4,631 78.1 58.9 16.3 2.9

$50,000 to $74,999. . . . . . . . . . 652 65.4 41.7 20.4 3.3 5,502 80.7 60.5 18.2 2.0

$75,000 and over . . . . . . . . . . . 751 61.8 40.1 19.9 1.8 5,729 76.3 56.2 18.9 1.1

NATIVITY

Native born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,262 58.4 34.5 18.5 5.4 26,356 75.2 55.0 16.8 3.4

Foreign born. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673 39.4 28.5 7.6 3.3 4,515 63.1 49.2 10.8 3.2

- Represents zero or rounds to zero. B Base too small to show derived estimate.

1

Data not shown for people with family income not reported.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.
who were high school graduates or

who attended college and received

either no degree or a bachelor’s

degree, working full time rather

than part time was still more common but only twice as likely, while

women who did not complete high

school were only one and one-half

times as likely to work full time as

part time. Among mothers with no

infant children: college educated

and high school graduates are more

likely to work at full-time than parttime jobs. This difference also

exists in part-time and full-time jobs

for women without infants and who

have less than high school education. 

These data suggest that women

with more time invested in their

educational careers return to work

more rapidly and are more likely to

return as full-time workers than do

women with fewer years of schooling. Many factors could account for

these differences, insofar as educational attainment is related to work

experience and salary levels. The

likelihood of returning to work after

a child’s birth is highly related to

work experience prior to and during

pregnancy (for example, hours

worked per week and when the

woman stopped working).11 In

addition to higher initial levels of

labor force activity during pregnancy, greater job commitment or available resources to purchase child

care services may account for the

higher post-childbirth levels of labor

force participation levels among

mothers with more years of schooling.

What other factors influence the

decision to return to work after

childbirth? The marital status of the

mother is a strong determinant of

labor force participation but is not

always a reliable predictor. Women

who are unmarried and who lack a

spouse’s income may be in relatively disadvantaged economic circumstances compared with that of

U.S. Census Bureau 9

Figure 3.

Employment Status Among Mothers 15 to 44 Years Old: June 2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, June 2000.

(Percent distribution)

Full time 

34%

Part time 

17% Unemployed

5%

Not in

labor force

45%

Full time 

54%

Part time

16%

Unemployed

3%

Not in

labor force

27%

With an infant Without an infant

11 Martin O’Connell. Maternity Leave

Arrangements: 1961-85. Current Population

Reports, P23-165. U.S. Census Bureau:

Washington, DC, 1990; Barbara Downs and

Kristin Smith, “Maternity Leave Among FirstTime Mothers.” Paper presented at the Annual

Meetings of the Population Association of

America, Washington, DC, March 29-31, 2001.

married women, and may be more

dependent on their own employment to support their families.

However, the absence of a husband

may restrict their ability to obtain

child care services due to fewer

family economic resources to pay

for child care and the lack of a

spouse to serve as a potential child

care provider. Table 4 shows that

despite these potential impediments

to working, 44 percent of separated, divorced, and widowed women

with infants are employed full

time— more than women who are

married (34 percent), and also one

and one-half times more than as for

women who have never married 

(29 percent). Among mothers with

infants in the labor force, nevermarried women also are most likely

to be unemployed and possibly in

need of child care services or job

training assistance. 

An important trend appearing in the

last few years has been the narrowing of differences in labor force participation rates among women by

the number of children they have.

Table 4 indicates that in 2000 the
labor force participation rate for

mothers with infants was not significantly different between mothers

with only one birth (58 percent) or

with two or more births (54 percent). In fact, no differences were

found in the participation rates for

either full-time or part-time workers

by birth order among mothers with

infants. In 1995, the overall difference was about 10 percentage

points (59 percent and 49 percent,

respectively), while in 1976 the difference was about 13 percentage

points (39 and 26 percent, respectively.)12 However, the differences

by birth order between these 2

years is not significantly different.

Which other population groups of

women with infants have relatively

high labor force participation rates

in 2000? Black women (66 percent)

had a higher rate than either White

non-Hispanic women (57 percent)

or Hispanic women (42 percent),

and also had higher full-time participation rates (45 percent, 32 percent

and 28 percent, respectively). 

Native women with infants had a

considerably higher labor force participation rate (58 percent) than foreign-born women with infants 

(39 percent). A large difference in

overall labor force participation

rates also is evident for mothers

without infants by their nativity status, which suggests that language

or job skills may play an important

role in these observed differences. 

Which mothers with infants experience the greatest difficulty in finding a job? About one-quarter of

teenagers with infants who are in

the labor force are unemployed

regardless of number of children

born. Relatively high proportions of

never-married women in the labor

force are unemployed compared

10 U.S. Census Bureau

12 Amara Bachu. Fertility of American

Women: June 1995 (Update). PPL-74. U.S.

Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 1997, Table H3 (for the 1995 data).

with their married or formerly mar- be attributed to a variety of

ried counterparts. Among those sources, such as how the survey

women with infants, a significantly was designed, how respondents

higher proportion of women with a interpret questions, how able and

high school education or less were willing respondents are to provide

unemployed than women with 1 or correct answers, and how accuratemore years of college education. ly answers are coded and classified.

Among mothers with infants living The Census Bureau employs quality

in families with incomes under control procedures throughout the

$10,000 per year, 17 percent were production process — including the

unemployed in 2000, representing overall design of surveys, testing

34 percent of all these low-income the wording of questions, review of

mothers in the labor force. the work of interviewers and

coders, and statistical review of In summary, these data indicate reports. that the majority of women with

infant children are labor force par- The CPS employs ratio estimation,

ticipants and twice as many are whereby sample estimates are

employed full time than part time adjusted to independent estimates

during their child’s first year of life. of the national population by age,

However, many teenage mothers race, sex, and Hispanic origin. This

and women with less than high weighting partially corrects for bias

school education appear to experi- due to undercoverage, but how it

ence considerable difficulty in affects different variables in the sursecuring employment. vey is not precisely known.

Moreover, biases may also be presSOURCE OF THE DATA ent when people who are missed in

the survey differ from those inter- Most estimates in this report come viewed in ways other than the cate- from data obtained in the June

gories used in weighting (age, sex, 2000 Current Population Survey race, and Hispanic origin). All of (CPS). Some estimates are based on

these considerations affect compar- data obtained by the CPS in earlier isons across different surveys or years. The U.S. Census Bureau con- data sources. ducts this survey every month,

although this report uses only data For further information on statistical

from the June surveys for its esti- standards and the computation and

mates. Comparative estimates on use of standard errors, contact Jana

annual births are made with data Sphered, Demographic Statistical

collected in the Vital Statistics Methods Division, via Internet eRegistration system and are pub- mail at dsmd_S&A@census.gov.

lished by the National Center for

Health Statistics. MORE INFORMATION

Detailed tables with characteristics ACCURACY AND

RELIABILITY OF THE DATA of women in the childbearing ages

by fertility indicators are available

All statistics from sample surveys on the Internet (www.census.gov);

are subject to sampling and non- search by clicking on “F” for

sampling error. All comparisons “Fertility” under the “Subjects A-Z”

presented in this report have taken heading on the Census Bureau

sampling error into account and home page.

meet the Census Bureau’s standards

for statistical significance. To receive a paper copy of these

Nonsampling errors in surveys may tables, send your request for 
“PPL-153, Fertility of American Contact our Statistical Information suggestions or comments, please

Women: June 2000” along with a Office on 301-457-2422. write to:

check or money order in the Chief, Population Division amount of $29.00 payable to CONTACTS

U.S. Census Bureau “Commerce-Census-88-00-9010,” to For additional information on these Washington, DC 20233 U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. topics, contact the authors of this

Census Bureau, P.O. Box 277943, report: or send an e-mail inquiry to:

Atlanta, GA 30384-7943, or call our pop@census.gov

Statistical Information Office on Martin O’Connell

301-457-2422. A copy of these moconnel@census.gov SUGGESTED CITATION

tabulations will be made available 301-457-2416 Bachu, Amara and Martin O’Connell. to any existing CPR P20 subscriber 2001. Fertility of American Women: without charge, provided that the USER COMMENTS

June 2000. Current Population request is made within 3 months of The Census Bureau welcomes the Reports, P20-543RV. U.S. Census the issue date of this report. comments and advice of users of its Bureau, Washington, DC.

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