Map Reveals States With Highest Increase In Unemployed Parents

Unemployed parents are on the rise in a number of U.S. states, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data, which Newsweek has mapped.

The share of children living with no parents in the labor force increased around one percentage point, up from seven percent in 2019 to eight percent in 2021, the data released in May, 2024, shows. Some states saw dramatic increases in the percentage of parents that were not in work, whereas only two saw a significant decrease.

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Between 2019 and 2021, the percentage of unemployed parents living with their own children under 18 varied across the U.S.. Nationally, the proportion of these parents increased by 67 percent, rising from 2.4 percent to 4.1 percent. States that saw a greater increase than the national average included Nevada (359 percent), New Jersey (353 percent), New York (175 percent), and Texas (172 percent).

States with significantly smaller changes than the national average were Virginia, which saw a one percent decline, and Missouri, with a 28 percent decline. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, all other states have experienced no notable increase or decrease, with the exception of Vermont, for which data has been "withheld to avoid disclosure." Newsweek has contacted the bureau for clarification on what this means via email outside of normal working hours.

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The report puts the rises in some states down to the coronavirus pandemic, which began around midway through the data set. "Although married families tend to be economically better off than other families, economic well-being shifted across family types following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic," the report reads.

In late 2023, the Center on Poverty & Social Policy found that single parent households with a parent out of work and double parent household with both parents out of work reached a historic high throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Some of its findings match that of the Census Bureau, with the report detailing that "Las Vegas serves as the epicenter of parental unemployment." It found that 35.8 percent of children in the area had on average at least one unemployed parent over April through August 2020. Households with both parents not in work reached 20.1 percent.

Prior to the onset of the pandemic, between January and March 2020, households in Vegas with at least one parent unemployed stood at 4.6 percent, and those with both parents being jobless was measured at 2.2 percent.

The report also found that Black and Hispanic children "in particular face elevated rates of parental unemployment." In April 2020, 25 percent of Hispanic children were found to have had at least one unemployed parent, but this figure dropped to less than 20 percent by August. In August, over 16 percent of Black children lived with at least one unemployed parent, about double the rate for white children.

Within those households with an unemployed parent, mothers during that period were found to have a considerably higher disadvantage, being more likely to be unemployed than fathers who live with their children.

In April 2020, the percentage of children with an unemployed mother peaked at 18.8 percent, the highest rate in at least 50 years, before decreasing to 10 percent by August. Similarly, the percentage of children with an unemployed father was 14.4 percent in April before falling to six percent in August.

The 2023 report says that this is "in part due to gender imbalances in domestic care responsibilities and more children participating in distance learning" that took place during the pandemic.