Families Have Changed.
But family-friendly policies have lagged behind. Many US and employer policies are based on an outdated model: a two-parent household, with one parent who works outside the home for pay. Today, only 68.9 percent of households include two parentsFootnote # 1, and only nine percent of all families—single-parent and two-parent—have one parent who cares for children full time.
That means the vast majority of families must work in a system that was created for a bygone era. Here’s what that looks like for working parents and employers across the country.
As parents struggle to balance work and family obligations, employers are losing out.
Seventy-five percent of US mothers say they’ve passed up work opportunities, switched jobs, or quit to care for their children.Footnote # 2


Fifty percent of US fathers say they’ve passed up work opportunities, switched jobs, or quit to care for their children.Footnote # 3
left a job because it lacked flexibility.Footnote # 4
The struggle is real and includes working parents in North Carolina.
Only 13 percent of private industry workers nationwide have access to paid parental leave,Footnote # 5 and nearly a quarter of moms return to work just two weeks after having a baby.
Only 11 percent of private sector workers in the South Atlantic region, which encompasses North Carolina, have access to paid family leave.Footnote # 6
1 in 3 families nationwide spend 20% or more of their annual household income on child careFootnote # 7 and North Carolina is the 11th least affordable state in the country for preschool-age child care.Footnote # 8
Up to 5 million more workers would join the labor force if US businesses offered more family-friendly benefits like paid parental leave.Footnote # 9
Hourly and low-wage workers are impacted the most.
Hourly workers make up 59% of the workforceFootnote # 10 but are
- less likely to have access to family-friendly benefits
- less likely to be able to afford unpaid leave or child care
- more likely to drop out of the labor force after giving birth.Footnote # 11
Roughly 6 million American parents work in jobs that pay $10.50 or less per hour.
Low-wage employees have the least access to family-friendly policies, which has significantly and disproportionately affected their health and economic security.Footnote # 12,Footnote # 13
Working families struggle → declining birth rate → smaller future labor force
The US birth rate has dropped to an all-time low, which economists warn will affect long-term economic growth.Footnote # 14