(623 kb)
(623 kb)
The number of families with stay-at-home mothers has declined over recent decades, as single-earner families have become less common. Meanwhile, between 1976 and 1997, the proportion of families with stay-at-home fathers increased from 1% of all families to 6%.
The average father who stays at home to look after the children is 42 years old. He is less likely to have a postsecondary education than a father who is earning outside the home (40% compared with 55%), and less likely to have been in a managerial or professional position.
The length of time out of the work force varies by sex: almost half of the mothers but less than one-fifth of the fathers had been out of work for five years or more, whereas half of the fathers and one-fifth of the mothers had worked in the previous year.
Those mothers and fathers who had left the work force in the previous 12 months cited very different reasons for leaving: loss of a job (67% of men, 43% of women); personal or family responsibilities (34% of women) and other reasons, such as returning to school or a disability (30% of men, 23% of women).