Source: US Census Bureau

According to the Census Bureau's Fertility of American Women report released in September 2000, in June 1998, there were 2.2 million women with infants in the labor force, compared to 865,000 women in 1976.

Not all of those 2.2 million women are working 40-hour weeks while their children head to day care each morning.  Many moms return to work with the option of having flexible schedules, telecommuting from home and running home-based businesses.  With a tight labor market, more and more businesses are making it attractive for new mothers to return to work.

"The large increase in labor force participation rates since 1976 is an important reason why child care issues have been a key component of family policy legislation in recent years," the Census Bureau report states.  "From changes to the federal tax code in 1976 which permitted working parents to take a tax credit for child care expenses to the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, there has been an increased recognition of the importance of making it easier for women to combine child rearing and employment activities."

More and more businesses are also accommodating nursing mothers with private lactation rooms, frequent pumping breaks and, in some cases, compensation for pump rentals and lactation consultant services.  Some employers also allow new moms to bring their babies to work, nursing on demand when needed.

The Census Bureau's report found that college-educated mothers were more likely to return to the workforce than mothers with a high school education or less.  Sixty-eight percent of women with one or more years of college who had a child in the last year were working, compared to 59 percent for high school graduates and 38 percent for women who were not high school graduates.

The report also found that marital status helped determine the labor force status of new mothers.  Fifty percent of women who are separated, divorced or widowed are working full time, compared to 39 percent of women who are married and 24 percent of women who have never been married.

"The marital status of the mother is a strong determinant of labor force participation but can act as a double-edged sword as a predictor," the report states.  "Women who are unmarried and who lack a spouse's income may be in relatively poorer economic circumstances than married women, and more dependent in their own employment to support their family.  However, the absence of a husband may restrict their ability to obtain child care services due to fewer family economic resources to pay for child care and the lack of a spouse to serve as a child care provider."

Access the complete Census Bureau report here