36% of mothers of young children are employed – Stuttgart Journal

Significant increase in labor force participation among mothers with a youngest child aged 2

The labor market participation of mothers with children under the age of three has increased in recent years.

By Dirk Meyer (pm)

According to the results of the 2022 microcensus, 36.2% of mothers in Baden-Württemberg whose youngest child was under the age of three were employed in 2022. In 2012, the proportion was still 3.7 percentage points lower (32.5%).

This was announced by the State Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg on Mother’s Day on May 14, 2023. Only people who actually worked are included in the analysis. Mothers who are on parental leave or maternity leave are not considered.

There was a particularly significant increase of 11.1 percentage points among mothers whose youngest child was two years old. Of these, around 3 out of 5 were in gainful employment in 2022 (63.5%).

If the youngest child was one year old, around 2 out of 5 mothers (41.6%) were employed. That was 4.2 percentage points more than in 2012. 9.1% of mothers with a youngest child under the age of one year were in gainful employment (2012: 10.0%).

State support measures such as the expansion of childcare, the legal entitlement to a childcare place and the replacement of the child-raising allowance with the basic parental allowance and parental allowance plus have influenced the increase in the number of mothers of small children who are gainfully employed.