Young parent workers are deeply connected to the workforce. Roughly 7 million parents ages 16 to 30 are working or actively looking for work while raising children. Yet many remain economically insecure despite their strong attachment to work. This report examines how employment, caregiving responsibilities, job quality, and access to supports shape the experiences of young parent workers in the United States.

Drawing on labor market analysis of national survey data, existing research, and interviews with workforce practitioners, the report finds that 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.

Why This Matters

Young adulthood is a critical period for career development and economic mobility. The jobs people hold during these years can shape future earnings, advancement opportunities, and long-term financial security. For young parents, these transitions occur while they are also raising children and managing caregiving responsibilities.

As a result, employment experiences during this stage affect not only parents’ economic well-being, but also the resources and opportunities available to their children. Understanding the interaction of jobs, caregiving responsibilities, and parental supports can help employers, policymakers, workforce organizations, and other stakeholders identify strategies that strengthen economic security and opportunity for working families.

What We Found

• Young parents are highly engaged in work. Roughly 7 million young parents are working or actively seeking work, representing about 15 percent of workers ages 16 to 30. Labor force participation among young fathers is especially high, while young mothers remain strongly connected to work.
• Employment does not always translate into economic security. More than one third of young parents in the workforce live in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Economic hardship is particularly common among Black young parents and American Indian or Alaska Native young parents.
• Young parents are less likely than non-parents to hold high-quality jobs. Before age 25, differences in access to good jobs are relatively small. 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.
• Jobs and supports often do not align with the realities of family life. Many young parents work in service-sector jobs with unpredictable schedules, limited access to benefits, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Child care, transportation, paid leave, and other supports play important roles in helping parents remain employed and pursue economic mobility.
• Addressing these challenges will require action both within workplaces and across the systems that support working families. Key actions include the following:
  • Employers can take steps to improve the day-to-day conditions that shape whether young parents can remain and advance at work, including by providing predictable schedules, expanding access to paid leave and health benefits, supporting advancement, and increasing scheduling flexibility without reducing pay or benefits.
  • Policymakers can help address the gap between the supports young parents need and those currently available through workplaces and public systems, such as expanded access to child care, strengthening labor standards, and making sure young parents have access to benefits and protections, such as paid family and medical leave.
  • Researchers, workforce organizations, community-based organizations, philanthropy, employers, and public agencies each have a role to play in testing solutions, building evidence, and bringing effective practices to scale to achieve the changes needed to benefit young workers and their families.

How We Did It

This report combines findings from existing research, analysis of national survey and labor market data, and interviews with workforce practitioners. The primary quantitative data sources include the 2020–2024 American Community Survey and the 2023–2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation. We also employ Urban Institute’s job quality framework, which uses a wide range of publicly available data from various US statistical agencies and government sources to examine differences in job quality between parents and non-parents. The report also draws on interviews with experts and practitioners who work with young parent workers.