A Collection of National Family Facts

WORK AND FAMILY
  1. The gap between the earnings of full-time men and women is greatest in sales occupations, where men earn a median of $575 a week, 78percent more than women in the same occupations. (The Numbers News, April 1995)

  2. The share of women ages 16 and older in the civilian labor force in 1994 rose to 58.8% from 57.9% in 1993. That represents the largest annual increase in women's labor force participation rates since 1985. (The Numbers News, April 1995)

  3. Dual-income black couples made slow progress in closing the gap between their household income and that of white two-earner families. (The Numbers News, May 1995)

  4. In 1992, 52 percent of mothers with children younger than one were in the work force. (Committee for Economic Development, "Why Child Care Matters," 1993)

  5. The minimum wage, when adjusted for inflation is 30 percent lower than it was in 1968. (Donald Hernandez, Bureau of the Census, "When Households Continue, Discontinue, and Form," Series P-23 #179, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993)
MARRIAGE
  1. The U.S. divorce rate declined slightly in 1993, to 4.6 per 1,000 population, suggesting that more married couples are staying together. The rate was stable from 1990 to 1991, at 4.7. It increased to 4.8 in 1992 before coming down in 1993. The divorce rate was at a record high in 1979 and 1981, at 5.3 per 1,000 total population. (The Numbers News, 1995)

  2. Divorce increased greatly during the 1960s and 1970s. By 1985, almost one-fourth of persons who had ever been married had experienced a divorce. Teenage marriages had the highest risk of divorce: among women who married as teenagers, 32 percent had divorced as of 1985, up from 20 percent in 1970. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Brief, Singleness in America, March 15, 1990)

  3. Adults are more likely to be single today than they were in 1970. They are marrying for the first time much later than the previous generation and many are becoming single again because of divorce or the death of their spouses. In 1970, 38 million, or 28 percent, of all adults 18 years and older were single (never-married, divorced, or widowed); by 1988, this number had grown to 66 million, or 37 percent of adults. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-23, No. 162, Studies in Marriage and the Family, March 15, 1990)

  4. Married couples still make up the majority of family households--78 percent. Yet their numbers have been virtually stable over the past six years, increasing to 53.2 million in 1994 from 52.1 million in 1988. (The Numbers News, January 1995)
FAMILY ECONOMICS
  1. Only 66 percent of the people who were in poverty in 1992 were receiving AFDC and Food Stamp benefits. Only 31 percent of female-headed families were receiving child support or alimony in 1989. (The Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Center for the Study of Social Policy, "Kids Count Data Book," 1993)

  2. A full-year, full-time minimum wage job in the U.S. pays $8,500. (David Ellwood, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services, testifying before the American Public Welfare Association, July 20, 1993). The federal poverty line for a family of four is $13,950.

  3. Families who earn less than the federal poverty level spend an average of 27 percent of their income on child care. Nearly 60 percent of single mothers who work 40 hours per week were below the federal poverty level after paying for child care. (Children's Defense Fund, "Child Care: Key Facts," September 1992, U.S. Government Accounting Office, "Mother-Only Families," April 1991)

  4. Consumer spending has changed since 1917. For example, housing costs consume more of our budget. The share spend on shelter climbed from 14 to 20 percent between 1917 and 1989. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Brief, "Consumer Expenditure Survey," 1988-89, Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 2383, August 1991)
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
  1. An estimated 39.7 million Americans (15.3 percent) were without health insurance coverage during the 1993 calendar year. The number was up 1.1 million from the previous year. (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Brief SB/94, issued October 1994)

  2. U.S. households spent an average of $725 of their own money on health insurance in 1992, an inflation-adjusted increase of 53 percent from 1986. (The Numbers News, September 1994)

  3. Patients suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression missed an average of 16 work days a year. Those days cost employers an estimated $17 billion in 1989. (Barry Lebowitz, Chief, Mental Disorders of the Aging Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health)
Only 39 percent of conventional insurance plans covered "well-child care services" in 1990, and 47 percent covered immunizations. In 1991, only 43 percent of children had been adequately immunized against childhood diseases by age two. (Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families Fact Sheet, "Health Care Reform: How Do Women, Children, and Teens Fare?" 1992)
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