Moms Staying Home: The number of U.S. mothers who put work on hold and stayed home with children grew to 5.4 million in ‘03, says a new U.S. Census Bureau analysis. The report finds 20% of stay-at-home moms live in households earning $100,000 or more, while 2.3% are in households earning less than $10,000. Mothers who stay home are concentrated in the top 5% of household incomes and the bottom 25. Quality child care is very expensive and can absorb as much as half or more of a family’s income. More than 88% of moms who stay home do so primarily to care for children.42% of stay-at-home moms have children under age 3. 39% of moms and 30% of dads were under age 35. About 98,000 dads also stay home, but only 16% say they were out of the labor force, to care for children; others cite illness or disability (45%); could not find work (11%), going to school (9%) or other reasons. (USA Today 12/1/04)
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