Parenting Skills Qualify as Relevant Job Experience
CHICAGO -- Many moms and dads are serving as the sole financial providers in their households. But while salary data indicate that female breadwinners may have a tougher time making ends meet, working moms in general tend to be happier in their jobs.
Findings of a CareerBuilder survey also are positive for stay-at-home moms and dads contemplating re-entering the corporate world. The survey discovered that work-related skills acquired as a parent can, in some instances, be listed on a resume.
In this year's study, 31% of working moms and 37% of working dads reported that they are the only breadwinners for their households. While working parents who are sole financial providers were equally likely to work in a management position (20%), more men reported holding a senior management role such as a CEO, chief financial officer, and senior vice president. The research also points to a significant disproportion of men and women in other job levels within a company. Working dads who are the sole breadwinners were nearly twice as likely to report holding a professional or technical role -- 57% compared to 28% of working moms. Working moms who are the sole breadwinners were twice as likely to report working in an administrative or clerical role -- 52% compared to 23% of men.
Working dads who are the sole breadwinners also tended to be in a higher earning bracket. They were four times as likely to earn six figures while working moms cast as sole breadwinners were nearly twice as likely to earn less than $35,000.
Of those who earn less than $35,000 annually, 38% are working moms who are sole financial providers and 21% are working dads. Of those who earn $100,000 or more, 6% are working moms and sole providers compared with 24% of working dads.
Working parents continue to struggle with juggling professional and personal commitments; 26% of both sexes said they are dissatisfied with their work/life balance. Some 34% of working mothers who had a baby in the last three years didn't take the full maternity leave their companies allowed, up from 30% last year and 26% in 2012. One in five took one month or less maternity leave while 11% took two weeks or less, and 10% worked while on maternity leave.
Fully 54% of working fathers who welcomed a new baby in the last three years didn't take all the paternity leave their companies offer. About half (49%) took two weeks or less of paternity leave, 21% took five weeks and 22% took no time off. At 21%, working dads were twice as likely to work while on leave.
While working mothers earn less, they tend to be more content in their jobs overall; 78% reported they are happy in their current roles at work compared to 73% of working dads.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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