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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Father's Day in Indiana by the numbers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Just in time for Father's Day this Sunday (June 20), the Indiana Business Research Center in Indiana University's Kelley School of Business has offered some interesting statistics, based on the most current data.

How many fathers?

• There are an estimated 67.8 million fathers across the nation. Indiana has an estimated 1.4 million fathers.
• 1.3 million men ages 18 to 44 in the United States have become a father through the adoption of a child as of 2002 -- which represents 2.3 percent of all fathers in this age group.
• In Indiana, 6.5 percent of households -- or slightly more than 92,000 households -- were led by single fathers with children younger than 18 years old in 2008. This is higher than the national average of 6.2 percent.
• 67.7 percent of Hoosier fathers in married couple households lived with their biological children in 2008, or roughly 520,600 families. This is similar to the national figure of 68.7 percent.

Time spent with Daddy:

• 16 percent of companies with more than 100 employees granted fathers paid time off following the birth of their child in 2008, an increase from 13 percent in 1998. This compares to 56 percent of women who receive any paid time off following childbirth.
• There was an estimated 158,000 stay-at-home dads in the U.S. in 2009. These married fathers with children younger than age 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily to care for the family while their wives work outside the home. These fathers cared for 290,000 children.
• Among stay-at-home dads, 59 percent had two or more children, and 57 percent had an annual family income of $50,000 or more.
• 2.7 percent of Hoosier fathers in married-couple families with children under 18 were not in the labor force in 2008 while the mother worked. This percentage could reflect the number of stay-at-home dads in Indiana, which is less than the 7.4 percent of all U.S. fathers.
• 54 percent of U.S. married fathers aged 25 to 54 and employed full-time spent time caring for and helping household children on an average day from 2003 to 2006. Dads tend to assist with physical care (32 percent) followed by playing or doing hobby activities (15.9 percent) with the children.
• Fathers in coupled relationships spend about five hours on a weekday helping care for a child less than 1 year of age. This number increases on the weekends to 9.3 hours. The average number of hours children under the age of 17 spend with their fathers is 3.7 hours.

Child support:

• 17.4 percent of fathers also were the custodial parents of their children vs. 82.6 of mothers in the United States in 2007. This proportion has remained statistically unchanged since 1994.
• 40.4 percent of custodial fathers were awarded child support agreements in 2007 vs. 56.9 percent of mothers. Forty-five percent of custodial fathers received all their child support that was due in 2007, not significantly different from the corresponding percentage for custodial mothers.
• Custodial fathers received a total of $2.8 billion in child support in 2007, compared to the $4.3 billion they were due. In contrast, custodial mothers received $18.6 billion of the $29.8 billion in child support that was due.
• 67 percent of custodial fathers receive non-cash support, such as gifts or coverage of expenses, on behalf of their children. The corresponding proportion for mothers was 56 percent.

Celebrating Father's Day:

• 76.2 percent of Midwestern individuals will celebrate Father's Day this year, slightly more than the nation (75.3 percent), and 9 percent declared they will celebrate it more compared to the 18.4 percent who will celebrate it less than last year.
• 76 million Americans barbequed at least once in 2008, which is likely to be a favorite activity for many dads.
• The average amount a Midwestern individual will spend for Father's Day this year is $78.12. Nationwide, individuals will spend an average of $94.32 on their fathers, which is a 3.8 percent increase from 2009.
• Among Midwesterners and all Americans, the top Father's Day gift is expected to be a card -- 65.6 percent among all and 65.4 percent among Midwesterners.
• Other gifts favored by Midwesterners include clothing (40.6 percent), a special outing or meal (39.3 percent), a gift certificate (29.2 perent) and books or CDs (22.7 percent). Nationally, the top ranked gifts also are: a special outing or meal (39.9 percent), clothing (36.7 percent), a gift certificate (31.2 percent) and books or CDs (23.4 percent).

Hoosier places to shop for Father's Day:

The following establishments likely have many Father's Day gift ideas (based on 2007 data):

• 354 hardware stores (3,393 employees)
• 484 sporting goods stores (4,294 employees)
• 228 department stores (33,334 employees)
• 234 computer and software stores (1,492 employees)
• 161 home centers (13,816 employees)

The Indiana Business Research Center (www.ibrc.indiana.edu/) is part of a national network of State Data Centers and acts as the official state representative to the Census Bureau on matters relating to the census and population estimates. The IBRC also develops and maintains STATS Indiana, the award winning, state-supported Web service (www.stats.indiana.edu).

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