Introduction

An increasing share of children in the US are living with lone mothers. In 1998, 23% of children under the age of 18 lived with a lone mother, up from 18% in 1980 and 8% in 1960 (see Table 3.1). Although there are differences in the extent of lone parenthood across racial and ethnic groups, the share of children living with lone mothers has risen in all groups: from 1980 to 1998, the share of children living with a lone mother rose from 14 to 18% for whites, from 44 to 51% for African-Americans, and from 20 to 27% for Hispanics (see Table 3.2). In the US, the term ‘single mother’ is typically used to describe women who have children and who are not currently married. It is important to note that a substantial number of these women may be cohabiting; this has not traditionally been tracked in US data. In this chapter, the authors use the terms ‘single mother’ and ‘lone mother’ interchangeably.

The share of children whose mothers have never been married has grown more rapidly (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2). In 1998, 9% of all children lived with never-married mothers, three times the 2.9% rate in 1980 and more than twenty times the 0.4% rate in 1960. Between 1980 and 1998, the share of children living with never-married mothers rose from 1 to 5% among whites, from 13 to 32% among African-Americans, and from 4 to 12% among Hispanics. By 1998, 39% of children living with lone mothers were living with never-married mothers.

Historically, lone mothers have had a higher labour force participation rate than married mothers (Burtless, 2000). However, their participation rate has varied by marital status (see Figure 3.1). Until recently, nevermarried mothers’ participation rate was lower than that of previously married mothers (and lower than that of married mothers). Figure 3.1 shows an increase in the participation rate of lone mothers in the late 1990s, with a particularly sharp rise for never-married mothers after the mid-1990s; their participation rate now slightly exceeds that of married mothers.

Lone-mother families have high poverty rates. In 1999, the rate for children living in lone-mother families was 42%, as compared to 17% for all families with children (US Bureau of the Census, 2000).