Saturday, June 22, 2013

Mothers as breadwinners - rapidly changing times

A piece from the NCPA today may be partially reflective of the NZ situation. The US and NZ share the highest percentages of children living in sole parent families. However the employment rate for sole parents in the US is much higher. Roughly 80 versus 50 percent.

In NZ, the Household Incomes Survey tells us that in 1982, 52% of two parent families had one parent in full-time work and the other was workless. Only 20% were both in full-time work. By 2011, 68% of two parent families were dual-earner families with 43% both full-time.

(Theses statistics are contributing heavily to growing household income inequality by the way).

Modern Views on Mothers as Breadwinners

June 21, 2013
A record 40 percent of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The share was just 11 percent in 1960.
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous9:07 PM

    What's the underlying difference? Benefits are far more freely available in NZ than in the US.

    If you look at a country where such benefits are not available - Singapore, Hong Kong, or even NZ only 40 years ago - then there are far fewer "solo parents" and none of them on a benefit.

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