Earlier research has demonstrated that the Great Recession has shifted breadwinning patterns among married couples, with families becoming more reliant on wives’ earnings due primarily to high levels of men’s job loss. This is consistent with patterns documented over previous recessions: wives’ share of total family earnings has risen steadily over the decades, but at each recession, their share increased precipitously, and did not fall back to pre-recession levels. Research also supports an added worker effect for wives during the Great Recession and in previous recessions, as wives increased their labor force activity when husbands stopped working during recessions. However, little is known about how these changes vary within states across the nation, or how these changing patterns are related to family earnings.

States differ in terms of the available labor market, the human capital of the labor pool, poverty, and work-related policies. Further, although all states were hit by the Great Recession, some states suffered higher unemployment and job loss than others. Not surprisingly, forthcoming research suggests that the share of wives who are breadwinners also varied across states. Our research will build upon these analyses by posing the following questions:

 

• How have patterns of breadwinning among married couples changed since before the onset of the recession? What variations are evident across states?
• What are the implications of these patterns in terms of family earnings over time, and how do they vary across the nation?
• How do state characteristics like state policies (including EITCs, safety net policies, state minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage, and paid family leave), male unemployment, women’s average educational attainment, and the poverty rate influence breadwinning patterns among married couples?

For the first two questions, we will draw upon the 2006-2012 American Community Survey, as its large sample size (sampling more than 3.5 million addresses) allows for examination of patterns at the state level. The third question will draw on the most recent American Community Survey (2012) to fit a multi-level model that nests individuals within states in order to account both for the non-independence of individuals and the potential for varying effects across states.

The implications of our research are twofold. First, understanding how state policies and state-level characteristics influence family breadwinning patterns will inform policy by highlighting those policies and characteristics that help and hinder family economic well-being before, during, and after the recent recession. Second, documenting the increased dependence on wives’ as breadwinners in each state will bring to the fore issues of workplace flexibility and may stimulate proactive conversations amongst families, employers, and states as employees, wives and husbands strive to balance their work and family responsibilities.