Share of Women Who Worked Before Their First Birth Rose

The share of mothers who worked before their first birth more than doubled to 78% over the past half century, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report.

The share of fathers who took paid leave after the birth of their first child rose in recent decades too. The policy and employment landscape changed in that period, including the introduction of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which guarantees eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave.

The share of fathers who took paid leave for their first child’s birth rose in the years since 1994. In the 2014-2022 cohort, an estimated 50.1% of first-time dads and 49.1% of first-time moms took paid leave.

The Census Bureau report, based on the 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), explores parental leave and employment patterns among first-time mothers and fathers in the decades leading up to 2022.

The 2022 survey collected data from a nationally representative sample of households, asking when parents had their first biological child. Parents are grouped based on the time period their first child was born (referred to as “cohorts,” e.g., “prior to 1981”) to protect the identity of survey respondents.

Figure 1 details the percentage of parents who worked before the birth of their first child by the year the child was born.

The share of fathers working before their first child’s birth remained stable (around 76%) for the cohorts whose first born came prior to 1981 until the 2006–2010 timeframe.

In contrast, the share of first-time mothers who worked before their child’s birth was as low as 38% for the cohort whose child was born prior to 1981, climbed to 53% from 1981 to 1985 and remained relatively stable at around 60% from 1986 to 2015.

But by the 2021–2022 cohort, the share of first-time parents who worked before their first child was born had increased for mothers (78%) and remained stable for fathers (81%).

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