Pew Research Center’s historical time-use analysis found that mothers’ childcare time increased from about 10.2 hours per week in 1965 to 13.5 hours per week in 2011, even as mothers’ average paid work rose from about 8 to 21 hours per week
Among U.S. adults ages 50–59 who were in Pew Research Center’s sandwich generation in 2025, 21% had both a child younger than 18 and an adult child they had financially supported in the prior year, in addition to a living parent age 65 or o
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates indicate that in 1965 women averaged about 40 hours per week in household-production activities such as cooking, cleaning, childcare, shopping, gardening, odd jobs, and related travel. Men averaged
Pew Research Center found that more than 80% of mothers’ combined paid-and-unpaid work time in 1965 was spent in housework and childcare. By 2011, that share was about 60%.
AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving reported that 63 million Americans were family caregivers in 2025, nearly 50% more than in 2015.
BEA household-production satellite-account estimates indicate that including unpaid household production would have raised measured U.S. GDP by roughly 37–39% in 1965, depending on the BEA vintage and method used.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s National Database of Childcare Prices found that full-day care for one child cost between 8.9% and 16.0% of median family income in 2022, with annual prices ranging from $6,552 to $15,600 depending on age, pro
AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving reported that about 70% of family caregivers were employed in 2025.
Historical time-diary data summarized by Pew found that mothers averaged about 51 hours per week of paid work, housework, and childcare combined in 1965 and about 53 hours in 2011. The composition changed sharply: paid work rose while house
BLS family-employment data summarized in the Home Economics research show that about 39% of married-couple households with children had both spouses in the paid labor force in 1970. By the 2020s, that share was about 65.4%.
