Every family — traditional and non-traditional alike — faces the decision of how much time to take off following the birth of a child — based on work schedule, employer provided leave, family time, income and the like. These decisions also take place when it comes to child rearing more broadly, something my family faces as well. Does a parent stay home or return to work? How does the answer to the question change based on age, educational attainment, income level, number of kids or sex of the parent? Today, our office is releasing a new report on stay-at-home parents in Oregon. While the broader, lifestyle and parental belief answers to the question of whether to stay at home or go to work are not easily answered, the breakdown of socioeconomic trends among Oregon’s stay-at-home parents is available.
Download the report here.
The report’s executive summary:
The number of stay-at-home parents in Oregon is on the rise. Both the total number and the share of working age adults are at or near all-time highs. Even so, most Oregonians with children – about 80 percent today – either have a job or are looking for work. Each family – both traditional and nontraditional alike – weighs the costs and benefits of staying at home, and makes the decisions that is in their best interest. Economic conditions, job opportunities and child care costs have an impact on parents’ decisions, but so too do parental choices in child rearing. Nevertheless, this increase in stay-at-home parents crosses many categories like age of the child, age of the parent, educational attainment, number of children and even the sex of the parent. While mothers account for the vast majority of Oregon’s stay-at-home parents, 94 percent of the total, the share of fathers staying at home has doubled in the past decade. Today in Oregon more than 1 in 5 mothers are staying at home specifically to take care of family while just 1 in 100 fathers are. A broader category that includes parents staying at home for any reason shows that nearly 1 in 3 mothers are at home and 1 in 10 fathers are.
Browse through the facts and figures in the report below.
Oregon Office of Economic Analysis 
[…] have fielded a lot of questions and feedback on the recent Oregon Stay-at-Home Parents report our office issued last week. For the record, we have copy-edited the report and reissued it on the […]
By: A Follow-Up to Stay-at-Home Parents | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on June 24, 2014
at 10:29 AM
[…] 3: Our office has recently been using the Current Population Survey more frequently (HH formation, Stay-at-Home Parents, etc). The sample size in Oregon is small, so some of the specific figures do need to be taken with […]
By: Structural Unemployment and Underqualified Applicants | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on July 1, 2014
at 9:53 AM
[…] easy to reverse: school, weak economy and staying at home with the kids (an overall upward trend as our office’s report showed.) Changes among the oldest group (45-54) appear to be harder to reverse, although a stronger […]
By: Oregon Labor Force Participation | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on July 29, 2015
at 8:33 AM
[…] years our office has researched various portions of the LFPR decline, including the increase of stay-at-home parents, and to what extent the declines are more likely to be cyclical vs structural. This last part is […]
By: Prime Working Age Oregon Males | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on June 28, 2016
at 1:39 PM
[…] adults has been rising in the past 15 years. It is certainly true that we are seeing in increase in stay-at-home moms, as our office’s report shows (and looking at the most recent data these trends have […]
By: Prime Working Age Oregon Women | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on June 30, 2016
at 10:01 AM
[…] variation. Higher ed enrollment is more pronounced among the 25-34 year olds (and 18-24). The increase in stay-at-home moms is also among the younger group. While the increase in the ill or disabled are most pronounced […]
By: Labor Supply, How Much More? | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on August 9, 2017
at 9:42 AM
[…] of potential workers are stay-at-home moms. Our office documented the increases seen since 2000 in our previous report. I’m sticking to moms here given that 1 in 5 are not working specifically to stay home and […]
By: 3 Places the Labor Will Come From | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on January 18, 2018
at 11:16 AM
[…] working families than many other developed countries. All of this may also contribute to the rise of stay-at-home moms in the past decade or […]
By: Oregon Births and Deaths, Part 2 | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on May 23, 2019
at 9:45 AM
[…] number of stay-at-home parents in Oregon is on the rise. A new report released Wednesday finds that one in five mothers is staying home to care for family while with […]
By: Report: 1 in 5 Oregon moms stay home - KTVZ on December 20, 2019
at 4:11 AM
[…] that reason I want to focus on working moms for a minute. (Also, see our office’s previous report on Stay-At-Home Parents for […]
By: COVID-19: Working Parents and Educators | Oregon Office of Economic Analysis on March 31, 2020
at 2:22 PM