NCPA


Policy Issues

NCPA Publications

Both Sides

Commentaries

Audio/Visual


NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
HOME / DONATE / ONE LEVEL UP / ABOUT NCPA / CONTACT US
More Moms Stay-at-Home
Daily Policy Digest

Social Issues / Demographics

Tuesday, August 26, 2003
The number of stay-at-home moms is rising for the first time since the 1950s, according to the Census Bureau, suggesting a shift toward greater commitment to marriage and family in general.

  • Some 10.5 million children have full-time stay-at-home moms, a 13 percent increase over the last decade.
  • Only 189,000 children have stay-at-home dads.
The main difference between the stay-at-home moms of the 1950s and those today is that women today make a conscious choice to head home, despite the economic risks:

  • Exposure to financial risk if the marriage fails.
  • Reduced family income in the long-run
  • Even a few years out of the workforce reduces a woman's long-term earnings.
The rise in stay-at-home moms, despite these economic forces, suggests a rise in the impulse of motherhood and commitment to family, by both the stay-at-home woman and her income-earning husband, says the Bureau.

Source: Maggie Gallagher, "Mom's home -- for good," Townhall.com, June 30, 2003.

For text
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/maggiegallagher/mg20030630.shtml

For more on Demographics
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/soc/

 Back
12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
601 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 900 South Building, Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
Copyright © 2003 National Center for Policy Analysis - All rights reserved.