Women's Employment and Changes in Family Structure

This article examines the impact on women's employment of the changing demographic structure of the family. Using log linear techniques and data from the 1960 and 1970 censuses, our findings modify earlier research and have implications for the future. Key findings include a decline in the effect of marital status on women's employment; no decline in the effect of child status; a more complicated relationship between race and employment status than previously realized; and clear evidence that rates are increasing not only because of changes in family structure, but because of changes in the employment patterns of successive cohorts of women.