EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES — 2025 - BLS
In 2025, 5.7 percent of families included an unemployed person, up from 5.3 percent in 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Of the nation's 85.9 million families, 79.8 percent had at least one employed member in 2025, down 0.3 percentage point over the year.
These data on employment, unemployment, and family relationships are collected as part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 households. Families are classified either as married-couple families or as families maintained by women or men without spouses present. Unless otherwise noted, families include those with and without children under age 18. For further information, see the Technical Note in this news release.
Families and Unemployment
In 2025, the number of families with at least one unemployed family member increased by 367,000 to 4.9 million. The proportion of families with an unemployed person increased by 0.4 percentage point from the prior year to 5.7 percent. The proportion of families with an unemployed person rose for White families (to 5.0 percent), Black families (to 9.0 percent), and Asian families (to 5.8 percent) in 2025. The share of Hispanic families with an unemployed person (7.7 percent) was little changed over the year. Black and Hispanic families remained more likely to have an unemployed member than White or Asian families. (See table 1.)
Among families with an unemployed member in 2025, 71.8 percent also had at least one employed family member, little changed from the prior year. The proportion of families with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full time changed little, at 63.2 percent, in 2025. Among families with an unemployed member, Black families remained less likely to also have at least one family member who was working in 2025 (63.0 percent of families) than White (73.9 percent), Asian (78.2 percent), and Hispanic (72.9 percent) families. (See table 1.)
In 2025, 5 percent of married-couple families had an unemployed member, which was less than the shares for families maintained by women (9 percent) and for families maintained by men (8 percent). Among families with an unemployed member, both those maintained by women and those maintained by men were less likely to also include an employed family member (56.0 percent and 63.8 percent, respectively) than married-couple families (81.4 percent). (See tables 2 and 3.)
Families and Employment
The share of families with at least one employed family member decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 79.8 percent in 2025. The likelihood of having an employed family member changed little over the year for Black (80.1 percent), Asian (87.8 percent), and Hispanic (87.4 percent) families. This likelihood decreased by 0.4 percentage point for White families (to 78.9 percent) in 2025. White families were the least likely to have an employed family member. (See table 1.)
The share of families with an employed member decreased for married-couple families by 0.5 percentage point to 79.1 percent in 2025. The share of families maintained by men with an employed member (86.2 percent) increased by 1.4 percentage points over the year, while the share of families maintained by women with an employed member (79.2 percent) was little changed. Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member than families maintained by men. Families maintained by women and married-couple families were about equally likely to include an employed member. (See table 2.)
In 2025, both spouses were employed in 49.1 percent of married-couple families, 0.5 percentage point lower than the prior year. Only one spouse was employed in 23.4 percent of married-couple families. (See table 2.)
See full report:
Source
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/famee_04232026.pdf