Community Assessment

The State of the Family

Children in Families without Full-time, Year-round Employment
Single Parent Homes

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Children in Families without Full-time, Year-round Employment

Traditionally Utah has been far below the national average for the percentage of children living in a family where no parent has fulltime, year-round employment. However, the gap has recently narrowed as more Utahans are finding difficulties in maintaining secure employment.

Percent of Children Living in Families Where No Parent Has Full-Time, Year-Round Employment is the share of all children under age 18 living in families where no parent has regular, full-time employment. This measure is very similar to the measure called “Secure Parental Employment,” used by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics in its publication America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being.

For children living in single-parent families, this means the resident parent did not work at least 35 hours per week, at least 50 weeks in the previous calendar year. For children living in married-couple families, this means neither parent worked at least 35 hours per week, at least 50 weeks in the previous calendar year. Children living with neither parent also were listed as not having secure parental employment because those children are likely to be economically vulnerable.

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Single Parent Homes

The percentage of Utah families with children headed by a single parent has stayed steady over the last several years (just under 17%) while continuing to stay well below the national average (27%).

Percent of Families With Children Headed by a Single Parent is the percentage of all families with own children under age 18 living in the household, who are headed by a person—male or female—without a spouse present in the home. “Own children” include never-married persons under age 18 who are the sons or daughters of the householder (head of household). The householder’s stepchildren and adopted children also are counted as “own children.”

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