Dive Brief:
- There are approximately 7 million parents in the U.S. aged 16 to 30 either working or actively looking for a job while raising children, which accounts for about 15% of workers in that age group, according to a new report from the Urban Institute.
- The study found that workforce participation from young fathers was “especially high,” and said young mothers also “remain strongly connected to work.” Nonetheless, many young parents “remain economically insecure despite their strong attachment to work,” per the report.
- Challenges related to employment, caregiving, job quality and access to support can all affect the experiences of young parents. These parents are also at an age when career development and economic mobility can have a critical impact on their future prospects.
Dive Insight:
“The jobs people hold during these years can shape future earnings, advancement opportunities, and long-term financial security,” study authors wrote in the report. “For young parents, these transitions occur while they are also raising children and managing caregiving responsibilities.”
Yet the report found that young parents were “less likely than non-parents to hold high-quality jobs.”
“Before age 25, differences in access to good jobs are relatively small,” study authors wrote. “By ages 25 to 30, however, young parents are 10 percentage points less likely than their non-parent peers to hold a high-quality job, translating to more than 650,000 parents ages 25 to 30 who may otherwise hold a high-quality job.”
More than one-third of working young parents live in families with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, with economic hardship especially common among Black young parents and American Indian or Alaska Native young parents.
The employment experiences of young parents affect their economic well-being, but also impact their children’s future. Because of this, employers, policymakers, workforce organizations and other stakeholders need to understand the interplay between jobs, caregiving and other familial support systems, and “identify strategies that strengthen economic security and opportunity for working families,” per the report.
For the many young parents who work in service-sector jobs, a combination of unpredictable schedules, limited benefits and few opportunities for advancement mean their career paths may not align with their needs. Certain critical support systems, including child care, transportation and paid leave, are essential when it comes to ensuring these parents stay employed and remain economically mobile.
To help young parents succeed in the workplace, employers can improve daily conditions by offering predictable schedules and increasing scheduling flexibility without benefit or pay cuts. Companies can also provide paid leave and health benefits and encourage and support career advancement.
In addition, policymakers can work toward expanding access to child care, improving labor laws and regulations and guaranteeing access to paid family and medical leave.
“The challenge is often not whether young parents work, but whether jobs, workplace benefits, and public systems reflect the realities of balancing work and caregiving during early adulthood,” the report said.
The 2026 U.S. Leave Management Report from Aon company NFP found that just 30% of companies offer family caregiver leave and, even when it’s offered, it is usually less than three weeks of pay. As a result, many workers have resorted to using PTO benefits to cover caregiving demands, that report found.
The challenges often fall especially heavily on mothers, according to a 2025 report from Motherly and the University of Phoenix Career Institute. That study found that 50% of mothers in the “sandwich generation,” meaning parents who have to support both children and adult dependents, said they had to leave a job because of their caregiving responsibilities. Two-thirds of the women with dual caregiving responsibilities surveyed for that report said their workplace benefits weren’t sufficient to cover adult caregiving responsibilities, with another 68% saying the same thing about child care.