35+ Working Mom Statistics and Trends

In this post, I'm highlighting some incredible statistics about working moms.

Let's face it, working moms have a lot to balance in their day to day. As a mom who works outside the home in a corporate office, many of these statistics that I'm going to share are no surprise.

There is absolutely no doubt that working moms carry a heavy burden every single day. What's great is that there is data and research to back this up.

If you are looking for some working mom statistics that show how hard working moms have it, or just some interesting facts on the impact of working moms, look no further.

I'm always updating this list with the most well-sourced, fascinating, and thoughtful facts about working mom facts I can find.

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Working Mothers by the Numbers

• 70% of mothers with children under 18 are in the labor force¹
• 75% of working mothers in the labor force are employed full time¹
• 40% of households with children under 18 have mothers as the primary or sole earners¹
• Of the women that are primary or sole earners, 67% of them are single mothers¹
• 63% of married couples have both parents employed²
• 43% of women leave their careers after having a baby⁸

Family Statistics with Households of Employed Mothers

• Of women who have children under the age of 1, 57.8% participate in the workforce¹¹
• Of women who have children under the age of 3, 61.9% participate in the workforce¹¹
• Of women who have children under the age of 6, 65% participate in the workforce¹¹
• Of women who have children ages 6-17, 76.4% participate in the workforce¹¹

Income of Working Mothers

• 17% of executives in the United States are Women³
• Working mothers see an average of a 4% decrease in income per child born or adopted⁴
• Only 6 percent of the total population of employers with 50 or more employees surveyed offered full pay during maternity leave, while 39 percent offered partial pay, and 42 percent offer no compensation at all⁴

Household Duties of Moms Who Also Work

• Women in a relationship with children are 5.5 times more likely than their male counterparts to do most, if not all, of the household work even when they are the primary income earner⁴
• When factoring in family duties, the average working mom puts in 98 hours per week²

Health of Working Mothers

• 66% of working moms get no more than 6 hours of sleep at night²

Positive Impacts for Families with Working Moms

• 23% of daughters of working mothers earned more than daughters of stay-at-home mothers⁵
• Daughters raised by working moms are 1.21 times more likely to be employed⁷
• Daughters raised by working moms are 1.29 times more likely to be supervisors at work⁷
• Daughters raised by working moms spend 44 extra minutes at their job each week⁷
• Daughters raised by working moms earn on average $1,880 more per year⁷
• Sons of working mothers spend 7.5 more hours a week on child care and 25 more minutes on homework⁵
• Children of women who worked between 10 to 19 hours per week when they are under the age of 4 is predicted to have a GPA that is 2.6% higher than similar children who did not work at all¹⁰
• Children whose mothers work full-time spend 3.2 fewer hours engaged in “unstructured activities” (e.g. activities that don’t require children and parents to be actively engaged and speaking to one another) compared to kids whose moms are unemployed¹⁰

Negative Impacts for Families with Working Moms

• Children of working mothers during their pre-school years have over 2.6 times the odds of being overweight or obese between 7 to 11 years of age compared to children of non-working mothers¹⁰

Social Perception of Working Mothers

• 41% of adults say the increase of working mothers is bad for society⁵
• 22% of adults say the increase of working mothers is good for society⁵
• 75% of Americans reject the idea that women should return to their traditional roles in society¹²
• 72% of the American public feel that to many children are being raised in daycare centers¹²

Working Mother Surveys

• 29% of breadwinning moms say they are more ambitious in their careers than their spouses⁹
• 70% of working moms say they are not just working for the money⁹
• 62% of working moms would choose working part-time if they could⁶
• 2% of working women plan to leave the workforce for family reasons⁷
• 61% of working moms are satisfied with their compensation⁹
• 50% of moms are satisfied with how much time they have for self-care⁹
• 47% of working moms are satisfied about family time and financial stability⁹
• 40% of working women feel as if there is not enough time in the day and feel rushed¹²

Wrapping Up - Working Mom Statistics Takeaways

Working moms are nothing short of amazing. Moms in the labor force have been dedicated to carving a place for themselves in their careers while also balancing motherhood.

Moms will continue to juggle their many responsibilities in their careers as well as home. While wresting with the competing demands of self-care, their career, and their family, working mothers feel a lot of pressure.

Some big takeaways for me from all of this research is that working moms bear a large burden, but there are also a lot of positive impacts to the family as they continue to strive and seek something for themselves while also fulfilling their maternal role at home.

It's also worth noting that while a lot of working moms feel conflicted in their roles that they play in their careers and at home, the landscape is continuing to change about the role of women in society.

As a working mom myself, I agree with a lot of the sentiments above. The balance between being a successful working mom, an engaged mother, a devoted spouse, and a healthy human being is a lot of pressure.

What do you takeaway from this information?

Sources for Working Mom Statistics

1. U.S. Department of Labor Blog
2. Wikipedia
3. Dame Magazine
4. New York Times
5. Credit Donkey
6. Harvard Business School
7. The Atlantic
8. Journalist Resources
9. U.S. Department of Labor Statistics
10. Pew Research Center

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