After hearing about research that suggests mothers with young children are less likely to be in work than men with children the same age, the TUC felt compelled to call on employers to offer greater flexibility for working mothers.

The TUC’s analysis of the Labour Force Survey Q2 2016 shows that on average, over 60 percent of mothers with children up to age four were in paid employment. While this number doesn’t appear too bad on its own, when you compare this to the 93 percent of fathers in paid employment with children of the same age, this number becomes far less impressive.

The research goes on to suggest the age of a female’s youngest child influences whether or not she works at all. Regional differences in the data also support certain theories. Maternal employment rates are influenced by such things as the cost of childcare, transport and housing, and access to quality jobs around the area they live in. For example, in London, the West Midlands and Yorkshire less than 60 percent of mothers with pre-school children are in work. When mothers in Wales, the South West and Scotland are analysed, this number increases to 70 percent.

HR experts suggest employers and the government need to do more for working mothers. Flexible scheduling is extremely important to working mothers and affordable childcare should be more attainable.

While the TUC analysis paints a fairly grim picture of the percentage of mothers in the workforce, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also released some data showing 66.5 percent of single parents were in work between April and June of this year. This is a 22.7 percent increase since 1996.