A new survey shows that almost three out of 10 mothers in America are now staying home and do not have a job outside the home.
The report was released by the Pew Research Center on Tuesday, according to USA Today. The results show a reversing in a long-term decline of stay-at-home moms, which hit its low point in 1999.
The percentage of mothers of children under the age of 18 who don't work outside the house has grown over the past 10 years to 29 percent in 2012, and was 23 percent in 1999. While two-thirds of these moms are married with working husbands, there is a growing number of stay-at-home moms that are unmarried.
The research states that there are several causes for the increase, TIME reported. Demographics play a role, since recent immigrants usually stay at home more often. Pew said there are social factors for the rise in stay-at-home moms, which are "set against a backdrop of continued public ambivalence about the impact of working mothers on young children".
Census Bureau data states that the percentage of children raised by stay-at-home moms who have working husbands has fallen by half since the 1970s, declining from 41 percent in 1970 to 20 percent in 2012, USA Today reported. These arrangements are rare for white and African-American families, while they are higher for Hispanic and Asian families by at least 10 percent.
The results also found that 5 percent of stay-at-home mothers with working husbands had at least a master's degree and family income over $75,000, and that 6 percent of mothers now they aren't working because they can't find a job. The stay-at-home category also includes mothers who are disabled or enrolled in school.
The author of the survey said that some mothers, especially those without a college degree, may be choosing the cost of childcare over low wages, deciding "it makes more economic sense to stay at home," USA Today reported.
Cleaver Ruse, a mother of two who has long worked part-time from her home in Herndon, Va., shared her opinion of the survey.
"I think it's great that so many women have the freedom to choose this lifestyle," Ruse said. "These women think it's best not only for them, but for their children."
