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Pew – The Economic Mobility of Women Across a Generation

Women’s Work – The Economic Mobility of Women Across a Generation, April 2014.

“This study demonstrates that women’s increased labor force participation and earnings have enabled some families to maintain their places on the economic ladder or, particularly among families at the bottom, to move up. But, as was the case for many women in the previous generation, men’s earnings continue to matter most for families’ income and economic mobility. Key findings include: 

  • Median hourly wages increased for both women and men compared with the previous generation. At every rung of the economic ladder, women’s median wages rose by 50 percent or more, but daughters continue to earn lower hourly wages than fathers did on the same rung.
  • Daughters working full time contribute more than half of family incomes, strengthening financial security. The extent of this contribution, however, varies based on family structure: Daughters who are in a couple (either married or cohabiting) supply 45 percent. Single daughters supply 81 percent, with the remainder of their income from nonwage sources.
  • Daughters’ higher hours worked are associated with increased rates of upward family earnings mobility, especially in the bottom and middle of the earnings distribution.
  • Despite women’s significant generational gains, men’s wages remain more important to increasing couples’ family income, a key factor for upward mobility.”

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