NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Women aren't dropping out of the labor force to have children and care for their families; they're just dropping out, according to a news report Friday.

While the percentage of mothers in the labor force has declined since its peak in 2000, the participation rate of women without children declined by a similar rate during the same period, The New York Times said, citing Heather Boushey of the Center for Economic Policy Research in Washington.

Rather than indicating that women are opting out of employment to have children, Boushey told the newspaper, the decline underscores how weak the labor market has been for all workers since the recession of 2001.

"There is no trend of mothers dropping out of the labor force," Boushey told the newspaper. "It just looks like they are because the economy has been so hard on working moms."

After the end of World War II, women joined the labor force in sharply increasing numbers. From 1948 to 2000, the labor participation rate of women ages 25 to 54 rose from just over 30 percent to a peak of more than 77 percent, the newspaper said.

In the 1990's, however, the growth rate began to slow.

The recent decline can be attributed to a weak job market, the newspaper said, citing Boushey's study.

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