Stay-at-Home Moms on the Rise in United States

Global Business

Working mothers face a balancing act between their career and raising a family. With daycare costs rivalling college tuition in many U.S. states, it’s more cost effective for some women to stay home.

A new survey by Pew Research found nearly three in 10 mothers in the U.S. are now stay at home moms. This is a reversal of a long-term decline that hit its low point in 1999. The share of mothers who do not work outside the home rose to 29 percent in 2012, the study found. That’s up from 23 percent at the turn of the century, according to the report. At the height of the recession in 2008, Pew estimated 26 percent of mothers were home with children.

Pew cited a 2010 U.S. census report that singled out the expense of child care as a factor. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the average weekly child care expense for families with working mothers who paid for child care rose more than 70 percent, from $87 in 1985 to $148 in 2011, according to government estimates. That represented 7.2 percent of the income for such families. CCTV’s Roza Kazan investigates what’s behind the trend.

Stay-at-Home Moms on the Rise in United States

With daycare costs rivalling college tuition in many U.S. states, it's more cost effective for some women to stay home. A new survey found nearly three in 10 mothers in the U.S. are now stay at home moms.This is a reversal of a long-term decline that hit its low point in 1999. CCTV's Roza Kazan investigates the trend.