Now a record 75% of British mothers go to work – up from two-thirds at the start of the century 

The number of working mothers has hit a record high with 75 per cent having jobs, official figures showed yesterday.

The steadily rising proportion of women who have at least part-time paid work while they bring up their children passed the landmark figure in the spring.

It has rocketed from 66 per cent in 2000 and 70 per cent in 2014.

The Office for National Statistics said 75.1 per cent of mothers with dependent children – those under 16, or 18 if still in education – were in work between April and June this year.

More than nine in ten fathers were in paid work. The ONS report also showed there were 6.2million couple families – where both a mother and father were bringing up their children – in the UK.

Of these, 73.2 per cent have both parents in work. Mothers who work are supported by measures such as tax credits and subsidised and free childcare. 

Earlier this week, research showed over a quarter of new mothers return to full-time work or self-employed jobs within three years of having a baby [File photo]

But families with stay-at-home mothers have no similar state support to help them apart from child benefit.

Tom Vizard, of the ONS, said: ‘In 2019, three-quarters of mothers with dependent children were in work, up from two-thirds of mothers at the start of the century. In comparison, over nine in ten fathers were working.’ The proportion of working mothers overtook the share of women without children who have jobs in the mid-2000s.

However, yesterday’s figures also showed that while more mothers overall work to pay the bills, many cut back on their hours or career ambitions to spend more time at home.

Nearly three out of ten mothers with a child under the age of 14 reduced working hours for childcare reasons.

But only one in 20 fathers made a similar move. It is a blow for ministers who have been pressing for more mothers to return to full-time work soon after having a baby – and for men to take a greater role in caring for children.

The ONS figures put the number of full-time stay-at-home parents in families headed by a couple at fewer than 1.7million. 

The steadily rising proportion of women who have at least part-time paid work while they bring up their children passed the landmark figure in the spring [File photo]

The great majority of these are stay-at-home mothers who bring up children rather than follow a career – and can afford to run a home without relying on two incomes.

Earlier this week, research showed over a quarter of new mothers return to full-time work or self-employed jobs within three years of having a baby.

Another report, by the Marriage Foundation think-tank, showed the proportion of families with a child under five where the father alone goes out to work has remained at over nine out of ten since the Nineties. However, mothers are the sole earner in fewer than one out of ten such families.

Spokesman Harry Benson said: ‘Years of social and policy efforts to encourage dads to be more equal parents of young children have utterly failed to translate into any shift in who takes prime responsibility.’

He insisted: ‘Over the past two decades, in families where only one parent works, it remains stubbornly the case that it is almost invariably the dad who goes out and mum who stays at home.’