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Would You Work If You Didn't Have To? Most Moms Say Yes

72 percent of working moms say they would still work if they didn’t have to, according to a new poll released today by the staffing company Express Employment.

That’s only slightly lower than working fathers: 80 percent said they would still work even if they didn’t need the money.

Deb Gray, franchise owner of the Pittsburgh West Express office, said the number of mothers in the workforce has increased drastically over the last sixty years, including mothers-to be.

In the 1960s, only 44 percent of first-time mothers worked during their pregnancy. Today, that statistic sits at 66 percent.

There have also been big changes in the number of women working within a year of giving birth.

“Less than one in five went back to work after having first babies in the 1960s, and now that number has increased to 64 percent of women going back to work after having a first baby,” Gray said.

Gray said there are both social and economic factors that contribute to women working.

“To have a vacation that in years past I could do on one income, I can’t do it anymore on one income,” Gray said. “There’s some great part of society that needs two incomes just to make a day-to-day living.”