One of the more frequently cited statistics about Canadian families is that more than two-thirds of mothers with children participate in the work force. This may often be taken to mean that most families have two parents working at full-time jobs. However, that is not the case, according to Family Work Patterns, a new study by Statistics Canada’s Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté and Claude Dionne. This study confirms the decline in the single earner two-parent family. Less than ten percent of Canada two-parent families with children at home fall into that category. The dominant pattern in two-parent families is not both parents working full-time, but rather one parent working full-time hours (or longer) and the other working part-time (20 hours a week on average).

The study also shows that the working patterns of parents differ from those of couples without children at home, as the following table shows.

Spousal Working Patterns in Two-Income Families With and Without children at home
With children without
One partner works FT or more, other works PT 51% 41%
Both partners work FT schedule or more 28% 42%
One works FT or more other not working 9% 4%
Both work PT or not working 12% 13%

This suggests that one strategy dual earner parents are using to balance work and family responsibilities is to have one parent – in this study it was the mother 90% of the time -- work part-time. As the above table shows, couples with no children at home use this arrangement as well, although to a lesser extent.

The presence of children was associated with higher levels of stress in couples, but only for families with two adults who worked standard full-time hours. Families who worked long hours (defined as one partner working more than standard full-time hours and the other working standard full-time hours or more) reported more stress than families working standard hours, regardless of whether or not they had children at home.

Family Work Patterns also presents some intriguing findings about parents who work long hours:

• Parents who worked long hours had lower average incomes than families where both parents worked standard hours.

• Parents working long hours were much more likely to be self-employed than families working consistent standard hours. 31% of fathers and 23% of mothers working long hours were self-employed versus only 8% of fathers and 9% of women in couples without children.

To read Family Work Patterns click here.