The 20 percenters

In one in five U.S. families, no one has a job. Not mom. Not dad. Not grandma or grandpa. No one. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2013, there were nearly 81 million families in the United States. Of that number, about 16 million families reported that nobody in their household had a...

In one in five U.S. families, no one has a job.

Not mom. Not dad. Not grandma or grandpa. No one.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2013, there were nearly 81 million families in the United States. Of that number, about 16 million families reported that nobody in their household had a job. That number accounts for 20 percent of U.S. families.

BLS defines a family as “a group of two or more people who live together and who are related by birth, adoption or marriage.”

And the 16 million number breaks down even further into the unemployed – those without a job but seeking work – and people who are out of the labor force – those who are unemployed and not actively seeking work.

In 2013, 7.7 million families said one or more members of their family were unemployed. That means 10 percent of families in the United States reported that their household was touched by unemployment.

The remaining 8 million families identified as out of the labor force altogether.

Unfortunately for these families, the BLS numbers are nothing new. The number of families without work has remained at the 20 percent mark since 2011.