Census Bureau: More mothers back at work a month after giving birth

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More employed mothers are returning to work within a month of having their first child, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.

Eight out of 10, or 82%, of working women whose first child was born from 2006 to 2008 were back on the job within a month. From 1991 through 1995, only 73% of first-time mothers went back to work in the first month, the bureau said.

Also, women now are more likely to work during pregnancy than they did in the 1960s. Two-thirds of first-time working mothers stayed on the job in 2006-2008, compared with 44% in 1961-1965.

Just over half of the first-time working mothers received paid time off, either maternity leave, sick leave or vacation, in the more recent time frame, as opposed to 42% between 1996 and 2000.

Almost a quarter of first-time working mothers quit their jobs –- 16% during pregnancy, and 6% within four months of giving birth.

The statistics came from a bureau report on employment patterns of first-time mothers from 1961 to 2008.

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-- Gale Holland