Late 30s and early 40s the most challenging time for working parents

Parents in their late 30s and early 40s are the most likely to feel stuck in their careers since having children, according to an analysis of workingmums.co.uk’s annual survey.

The survey of over 3,000 parents shows those in the 38-44 age group are significantly more likely to feel stuck in their career – 83% said this, compared to 70% of over 45 year olds and 77% of 22 to 37 year olds.

They were also the most likely to say their career had not progressed since having children [only 29% had progressed compared to 35% of younger parents and 40% of older parents]. This is even though they were more likely to work full time [59% compared to 57% of younger parents and 50% of older parents]

The 38-44 year old group was also more likely to feel discriminated against due to working flexibly – 36% felt this, compared to 31% of younger parents and 25% of older ones. They were also the most likely to have flexible working turned down and to have left their job as a result [33% had had flexible working turned down and 44% had left as a result].

They were also the least likely to have retrained in the last year, but were the most interested in doing so. Seventy per cent expressed an interest in retraining, with only 15% having retrained in the last year.  Other age groups were also very interested in retraining – 68% of younger parents and 66% of older workers said they were interested in retraining.

Younger parents were most likely to have considered starting their own business – 57% compared to 53% of 38 to 44 year olds and 48% of parents over 45. Older parents were the most likely to have taken time off work for mental health issues – 40% compared to 30% of 38 to 44 year olds and 27% of younger workers. In each age group the need to take time off was mainly due to a mixture of work and home pressures.

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