The percentage of women's participation in the labor force has risen in the past few decades..."Schooling accounts for most of the change over time," it is argued. At the same time, increased "family size reduces employment rates." Even so, 47% of married Jewish mothers with children up to one year of age participated in the labor force in 1987, as did almost 60% of mothers whose youngest child was between 2 - 4 years of age. The inclusion of non-married mothers would almost certainly have the effect of increasing these rates. The numerical significance of these rates is that in 1987, more than 135,000 children under the compulsory education age needed care while their mothers worked outside the home.