Center For Work And The Family

Center For Work And The Family
Facing The Facts

The traditional family with a male breadwinner and wife at home fits only 11% of today's households. (EAP digest, May, l992)
The fastest growing segment of the workforce is married women with children under 3. (Center on Work and Family, Boston University)
In 1950, 28% of married women with children 6 to l7 years of age were in the paidworkforce. By l986, the percentage increased to 68%. (U.S. Labor Department)
In l950, no statistics were kept on married women in the labor force with children undera year of age, because it was so rare among middle class women. By l986, half of all women with babies under one year of age were in the paid work force. (Hochschild, The Second Shift, l989)
The percentage of Americans who were unemployed or under-employed increased from 7% in l973 to 17% in 1993. At the same time, annual overtime hours for those who were employed rose by 50 hours from1980 to 1987. (Schor, The Overworked American, 1991.)
In the past 20 years, the average employed person spends an extra 163 hours per year on the job, the equivalent of an extra month a year. Just to reach the 1973 standard of living, production workers and non-supervisory workers (80% of the workforce) must now work 245 more hours or 6 extra weeks per year. (Schor)
In 1990, 1/4 of all full-time workers spent 49 or more hours on the job each week. Of these almost half were at work 60 hours or more. (Schor)
From 1969 to 1987, annual leisure time has decreased by 47 hours. (Schor)
"I feel I have to rush to get everything done each day." 45% of parents respond "always" or "Most of the time" to this statement. (Center On Work And Family, Boston University)
The majority of Americans get 60 to 90 minutes less sleep per night than they need for optimal health and performance. (Schor)
54% of workers surveyed by Boston Market, the fast-food company, said they take fewer than 30 minutes for lunch; 37% take fewer than 15 minutes. (Wall Street Journal, March 26, 1996.)
The number one thing working women want President Clinton to know is that they need help balancing work and family. 60% of working women say stress is their number one problem. (Working Women Count! Survey. Department of Labor, 1994)
Work problems are three times more likely to spill over into family time than family problems are likely to spill over into work time. (National Study of the Changing Workforce. Families and Work Institute. 1994)
Women who work for supportive companies were more satisfied with their jobs, took fewer sick days, worked more on their own time, worked later into their pregnancies and were more likely to come back to work after childbirth. 78% of women returned to work in accommodating companies, whereas only 32% returned in unaccommodating companies. (1987 study, National Council Of Jewish Women)
Unpaid labor is ignored in calculating the Gross National Product. The "love economy" accounts for 75% of all productive labor worldwide, and it accounts for 50% of all productive work that takes place in industrialized societies. (Hazel Henderson, Tikkun)
Over 80% of the care of the frail elderly is provided by families. (U.S. Dept. Health and Human Services, 1987)
Of the 7 million Americans providing unpaid personal care to elders, 3 out of 4 of these caregivers are women, and over half hold full or part time jobs. (American Demographics, 1989)
Women work 10 to 15 hours more per week than their husbands at their combined paid employment and household and childcare tasks. (Arlie Hochschild, 1989)
Working parents who experience fewer breakdowns in their childcare arrangements are more satisfied with their lives in general, are less stressed, and are coping better than other parents. (National Study of the Changing Workforce, 1993)
Interviews with children of working mothers indicated that children do not object to their mothers working, but they do object to how stressed their mothers are when they return. (Families and Work Institute)
There is a 41% turnover rate per year among childcare workers. The only occupation with higher turnover is gas station attendants. (Ed Zeigler)
Kids are out of school a total of 16 weeks per year for vacations and holidays. Working parents average two weeks of vacation per year. (Work/Family Directions)
In 1992, there were only two industrialized countries in the world without a policy of paid leave for infant care - South Africa and The United States. South Africa now has paid leave. (Ed Zeigler)