Significantly more women with small children are employed than a few years ago. Nevertheless, on average, mothers’ employment is still well below that of fathers.
The employment of mothers has increased in recent years. For women with small children, however, it is still well below that of men, as shown by current data from the Federal Statistical Office. According to this, 39.7 percent of mothers with at least one child under the age of three were employed last year. At the start of the time series in 2008, it was 30.8 percent. In contrast, the vast majority of fathers (89.6) with small children are employed (2008: 88.9 percent).
One reason for the increase in employment among mothers with children under the age of three is likely to be the expansion of childcare due to the legal entitlement to a daycare place, explained the Wiesbaden authorities on the occasion of Mother’s Day on May 14th.
The older the offspring, the more women are in the job. Last year, 64.1 percent of mothers with children under the age of 12 were employed (2008: 56.7 percent). For mothers with children aged 12 to under 18, the proportion rose from 76.8 percent to 84.0 percent in the same period. In total, more than two out of three mothers (69.3 percent) of minors were in the job in 2022. In 2008 it was still 62.8 percent.
Source: Stern
