1Center or American Progress | The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update
The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update
Rates of Women Supporting Their Families EconomicallyIncreased Since 2007
Sarah Jane GlynnApril 2012
In 2009 he Cener or American Progress released “Te New Breadwinners,” a chaperin
Te Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything
.
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Te repor describes how women’s movemen ou o he home and ino he paid labor orce has changed every-hing abou how our amilies live and work oday. While our lives have changed as aresul o his dramaic ransormaion, he insiuions surrounding us have no neces-sarily kep up. In “Te New Breadwinners,” CAP Senior Economis Heaher Boushey illusraed how women have made grea srides and are now more likely o be economi-cally responsible or hemselves and heir amilies, bu here is a sill a long way o go.In his brie we updae he numbers rom “Te New Breadwinners” o reec he mosrecen daa available based on amily income, race, age, and moherhood, and show how he rends idenied in he 2009 piece have only grown sronger in he ensuing years. We nd ha here are more wives, and women generally, supporing heir amilieseconomically now han ever beore—and here could no be a more imporan ime oensure ha working women receive he pay hey deserve. Te ypical woman only earnsan average o 77 cens o he male dollar.
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I is no dicul o imagine how many more women would be breadwinners—and how much beter o our amilies would be—i he gender wage gap were closed.
Overall increase in women breadwinners and its effects on society
In July 2009, jus afer he Naional Bureau o Economic Research says he recessionechnically ended, women made up hal (49.9 percen) o all workers on U.S. payrollsor he rs ime in our naion’s hisory.
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While par o his was undoubedly due o seep job losses by men, even now in he mids o he so-called “Man-covery,”
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women sillcomprise abou hal o U.S. payrolls (49.3 percen as o February 2012).
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2Center or American Progress | The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update
Some groups o women, paricularly women o color, immigrans, and low-income women, have always had high levels o labor orce paricipaion. Bu in 1969 women were only abou a hird o he workorce (35.3 percen). Women’s increased labor orceparicipaion has been parially abou personal choices and parially abou economics, bu regardless o he moivaing acor, i is no somehing ha is likely o change. Teollowing analysis will show ha women’s wages are making up ever-larger porions o amily budges, making a large-scale deparure rom he paid labor orce unlikely. As a resul o his ransormaion, mos children oday are growing up in amilies wihou a ull-ime, say-a-home caregiver. In 2010, among amilies wih children,nearly hal (44.8 percen) were headed by wo working parens and anoher one in our(26.1 percen) were headed by a single paren. As a resul, ewer han one in hree (28.7percen) children now have a say-a-home paren, compared o more han hal (52.6percen) in 1975, only a generaion ago.
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Te recession led o higher job losses among men, which mean ha in a greaer number o amilies, he husband was unemployed while he wie suppored he amily. In 2010, or hers ime in decades, unemploymen was concenraed among husbands raher han wives.
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In no small par due o higher male unemploymen, alongside he longsanding rends,in 2010 in nearly wo-hirds (63.9 percen) o amilies wih children women were eiher breadwinners or co-breadwinners.
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(see Figure 1) While his overall rae has no changed muchsince he las economic peak in 2007 (whenraes sood a 62.8 percen), i masks a moredramaic rend. Te percenage o mohers whoare co-breadwinners—hose working wives bringing home a leas 25 percen o heir am-ily’s oal earnings bu less han heir parner—has acually allen rom 24.4 percen in 2007 o22.5 percen in 2010. A he same ime he raeo breadwinners—hose working wives earningas much or more han heir parners and singlemohers providing he sole income or heir am-ily—has increased rom 38.4 percen in 2007 o41.4 percen in 2010.For he remainder o his brie we dig a litledeeper ino hese numbers and see how hisrend breaks down by amily income, race, age,and moherhood.
FIGURE 1
Mothers’ labor force participation has dramatically increased
Share of mothers who are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, 1967–2010
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%
1 9 6 7 1 9 6 9 1 9 7 1 1 9 7 3 1 9 7 5 1 9 7 7 1 9 7 9 1 9 8 1 1 9 8 3 1 9 8 5 1 9 8 7 1 9 8 9 1 9 9 1 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 7 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 7 2 0 0 9
BreadwinnermothersCo-breadwinnermothers63.9%27.7%22.5%41.4%11.7%16%
Source: Author and Jef Chapman’s analysis o MiriamKing and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series,Current Population Survey: Version 2.0” (Minneapolis,Minnesota: Minnesota Population Center, 2012).
3Center or American Progress | The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update
Family income
Te percenage o working wivesearning as much or more han heirhusbands has increased across allincome groups. (see Figure 2) A hird(33.5 percen) o working wives are breadwinners in amilies wih incomesin he op 20 percen o all amilies(no jus married-couple amilies),up rom jus less han a hird in 2007(31.6 percen) and only one in eigh(12.6 percen) in 1967.
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Breadwinning wives are even morecommon in amilies wih lowerincomes. Seven in 10 (69.7 percen) working wives earn as much or morehan heir husbands in he botom 20percen o income disribuion or allamilies. And abou hal (45.3 percen)o working wives are breadwinners in amilies in he middle o he income disribuion,up rom 4 in 10 (39.1 percen) in 2007 and only 15.2 percen in 1967.
Race and ethnicity
Te percenage o wives earning asmuch or more han heir husbandsalso increased or all racial and ehnicgroups, wih similar gains or all groups.(see Figure 3) Among Arican Americanamilies, more han hal (53.3 percen)o working wives earned as much ormore han heir husbands in 2010, uprom 45.7 percen in 2007, and markinga dramaic increase rom 1975 when28.7 percen were breadwinners. And abou 4 in 10 working wives were breadwinners in 2010 or boh whie(41 percen) and Hispanic (40.1 per-cen) amilies. Tis is nearly double heraes rom 1975.
FIGURE 2
There are more women breadwinners in every income group
Percentage of working wives earning as much or more than their husbands,by family income quintile
FIGURE 3
Women breadwinners on the rise across races and ethnicities
Percentage of working wives earning as much or more than their husbands,by wife’s race/ethnicity
Source: Author and Jef Chapman’s analysis o MiriamKing and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series,Current Population Survey: Version 2.0” (Minneapolis,Minnesota: Minnesota Population Center, 2012).Source: Author and Jef Chapman’s analysis o MiriamKing and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series,Current Population Survey: Version 2.0” (Minneapolis,Minnesota: Minnesota Population Center, 2012).
4428.315.213.312.664.147.239.13431.669.755.545.339.233.5
0102030405060 7080Top quintileFourth quintileMiddle quintileSecond quintileBottom quintile201020071967
2010200719750102030405060White, non-HispanicBlack, non-HispanicHispanicOther, non-Hispanic
21.136.841.031.740.345.323.634.640.128.745.753.3
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The New Breadwinners: 2010 Update
Sarah Jane Glynn describes how women are now either breadwinners or co-breadwinners in most families.
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