RICHMOND, Va — The amount of time pregnant women spend out of work while on maternity leave is increasingly getting shorter, according to the Pew Research Center.
According to Pew’s new report, eight in 10 women worked into the last month of their pregnancy in the 2000 to 2010 decade. In the 1960s, less than half worked into that final month of pregnancy.
Not only are pregnant women working later into their pregnancy, they’re also returning to work sooner after giving birth. In the 2000 to 2010 decade, almost three out of four women were back to work within six months of giving birth. in the 1960s, one in five women were back that soon.
The study also found highly-educated women were more likely to work during their first pregnancy than less-educated women.
