Reuters reports that 4/5ths of the workers in the U.S. who lost their jobs in the last year were men. Eighty percent! This is because the professions that were hardest hit are predominantly jobs that men have held while professions that employ more women (such as health care) are expanding. Ironically, research shows unemployed persons don’t do any more housework than employed persons, so there might be a lot of unhappy wives right now wondering what their laid off husbands did all day! (“Hunny, I promise watching ESPN is a good way to look for a job!”)
Couple this with a recent post by economist Justin Wolfers where he shows that 26% of wives earn more than their husbands. Finally, more women than men are graduating from college, so the number of wives out-earning their husbands is going to grow.
None of this is really surprising. Most of us men know our wives are smarter and harder working than us! I know mine would definitely make more money than me if she wanted to. I am curious, however, what kinds of changes to our society these trends may bring and what unintended consequences. Will we see more husbands staying home to watch the kids since their wives are the power earners? Will it be harder to let go of a possible second income in the family in order to have a baby when that second income is the higher one? Will this increase the trend towards a lower birthrate, which is projected to have dramatic negative consequences for the economic stability of the nation?
And of course, the critical question: If the wife brings home the bacon, will the husband finally learn how to cook it properly? 🙂