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- /1518-78 - -
NSTTUTE
FOR
RESEARCH
ON
POVERTYD,scWK~~~
DO
WORKING
WIVES
INCREASE
FAMILY
INCOME
INEQUALITY?
Sheldon
Danziger
UNIVERSITY
OF
WISCONSIN
-MADISON
FORTHCOMING:
JOURNAL
OF
HUMAN
RESOURCES.,
SUMMER
1980
Do
Working Wives
Increase
Family Income
Inequality?
. ' • •
r,·
Sheldon.Danziger
September 1978
(Revised,
April
1979)
Th~s
research
was
supported
by
the
National
Science
Foundatien
under
Grant
No.
APR77-0l603 and
by
funds
granted
to
the
Institute
for
Research
on
Poverty
by
the
Department
of
Health,
Education
and
Welfare.
Any
opinions.
findings,
or
recommendations
expressed
here
are
tho~e
of
thea'llthor
and
do
net
necessarily
reflect
views
of
the.National
Science.Foundation.
The
.
author
wishes
to
thank
Jeannie
Nakano and
NancvWilliamsonfor
valuable
__
~ssi$tanc:e,_.
and.
Robert
Haveman~
George
Jakubson,
Robert
Lampman,
Timothy .
. ' .S,Ineeding,
"and
'E~gene
Smoienf;lky for'comments on
an
eariier
draft.
'
"',
~-'--
---'----,---_:_---'-._"-'----,--'.
,----,--------
ABSTRACT
This
note
measures
the
contribution
of
wives'
earnings
to
family
income
inequality
in
1967
and
1974.
The
earnings
of
wives
have
a
small
equalizing
impact
on
the
distribution
of
family
income
that
remained
relatively
stable
between
1967 and
1974,
despite
rapid
increases
in
the
work
experience
of
wives.
Do
Working Wives
Increase
-Family Income
Inequality?-
In
1951,
abo~t
23%
of
married
women
were
in
the
paid
labor
force;
by 1974
their
labor
force
participation
rates
had more th&n
doubied.
During
the
early
post
World
War
II
period,
married
women
were
more
likely
to
work
if
family
income from
other
sources
were
low.
In
such
cases,
the
earnings
of
wives
raised
the
incomes
of
families
located
at
the
bottom
of
the
income
distribution
and
reduced
family
income
inequality.
In
recent
y~ars,
due
in
part
to
the
women's·movement and
to
efforts
to
equalize
opportunity,
the
negative
relationship
between
wives'
work.
experience
and
family
income
has
wea~ened.
The most
rapid
increases
in
work
experience
have
been
among
women
in
families
with
higher
incomes.
Increases
in
earnings
among
wives
in
high
income
families
increase
family
income
inequality.
Thurow
(2,
p~
.12)
has
suggested
that
although
wives'
earnings
were once a
factor
leading
to
an
equalizatio~
of
family
incomes,
they
are
now
"becoming a
source
of
family
inequality~"
This
note
uses.
microeconomic
data
from
the
March 1968 and March 1975
Current
Population
Surveys
(CPS)
to
mea~ure
the
contribution
of
wives'
earnings
to
family
income
inequality
in
1967 and
1974.
The
data
allow·
computations
not
available
from
published
studies,-
but
restrict
the
analysis
to
the
recent
past.
The
results
show
that
the
earnings
of
wives
have
a
.~l
,;...
'?
;'.' .
~. ~·
..
·t·
.'-':
small
equalizing
impact
On
the
distribution
of
family
income
that
•
'''0
•.
:
...
1
;._,,,",",,_
.··.ui~
, : '..
'~",
1.
ji-.
::'
•
remained
relatively
stable
between
1967 and
1974,
despite
rapid
increases
in
work
experience
by
the
wives
of
husbands
~ith
higher-
than-average
earnings.
---
-~--~._---~~--~--
---~-----~--~
2
Table
1
reveals
the
work
expetie~ce
of
wives
and
their
contributions
to
family
income by
the
earnings
class
of
the
husb;md
(in
1974
dollars).
Between 1967 and 1974,.
the
percentage
of
white
wives
who
worked
at
any
tim~
during
the
year
increased
from 45
to
51%.1
Although
the
most
rapid.
increases
in
work:occurred
among
the
wives
of
h~sbands
with
earnings
above
$20,000,
the
.vrork
experience
of
wives
still
generally
declines
as
husbands'
earnings
increase.
This
negative
relationship
between
husbands'
earnings
and
wives'
work
experience
is
also
evident
for
nonwhite
families.
While
the
I"
(
percentage
of
nonwhite
wives
who
worked
was
about
61%
in
both
years,
increases
in
work.experienceamong
wives
of
husbands
with
high
earnings
offset
decreases
among
the
wives
of
husbands
with
low earningE;
•.
At
09._
given
level
of
husband's
earnings,
nonwhite
wives
are
more
likely
to
work
than"
are
white
wives.
The Appendix
reports
regressions
in
which
the
work
exPerience
of
the
wife
is
regressed
on
her
own
characteristics
and
the
earnings
of
her
husband.
For
both
races,
the
probability
that
the
wife
works
declines
slightly
as'
husband's
earnings
increase.
2
Despite
these
changes
in
the
work
experience
of
wives,
their
earnings
as
a
percentage
of
total
family
.income
in
both
years
remained
almost
constant.
In
1975,
this
contribution
was
about
13%
for
all
white
families
and
about
19%
for
all
nonwhite
families;
for
families
where
the
wife
works,
these
contributions
were
27%
and
33%,
respectively.
Although
over
half
of
all
wives
work,
their
contribution
to
family
income
remains
modest.
