Statscan - Significant differences in work patterns were apparent between families with children and those without children, according to a new article published today in the online edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income.

For example, among families with children, more than one-half had a parent, usually the mother, who spent less time at a paid job over a five-year period than the other parent.

Among families without children, this work pattern was less common. These families were more likely to have both partners working full-time in all five years.

Furthermore, families with parents who worked particularly long hours over the five-year period surprisingly earned less than parents who worked standard work years.

One possible explanation is that parents with long work hours were more likely to be self-employed people, who tend to have lower earnings, and might not be able to work fewer hours because of family responsibilities.

These differences in earnings were not seen among families without children.

While families working long hours were more stressed than other types of families on average, the presence of children did not appear to have much impact on their stress levels.

Note: The article, "Family work patterns," examined the work patterns of 8,800 couples with and without children over a period of five years by combining three longitudinal panels of respondents from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. Some 4,800 were families with children, defined as those with at least one child under age 18.