Two-earner couples have become the norm in Canada, shattering the image of the so-called “traditional” family, in which the husband is the only breadwinner. Little noticed as part of that transformation, however, has been a dramatic increase in the number of families in which wives earn more than their husbands.

In 1967, an estimated 11% of Canadian wives earned more than their spouses. By 2003, that proportion had almost tripled to 28.6% (see “Ratio of earnings” chart).

Throughout most of the 1980s, the proportion of wives who were primary breadwinners for their families hovered around 19%. That jumped to about 25% during the recession of the early 1990s, mainly because men in high-wage and manufacturing jobs were out of work.

A new Statistics
Ca-n-ada study says the proportion of families with wives as primary breadwinner has continued to climb since then. Study authors Deborah Sussman and Stephanie Bonnell say the increase suggests that “women in the role of primary breadwinner is not likely a temporary phenomenon resulting from a recessionary period.”

They also say the reversal of traditional earning patterns may come at a price.

“The distribution of household earnings between spouses has been found to affect gender roles, spending patterns and household decision-making,” the authors say. They point to another study that found that when women were the chief wage earners — by $10,000 a year or more — complicated systems of shifting money into various spending pools were used to maintain the traditional role of the man as provider.

On the positive side, however, Sussman and Bonnell note, some men may welcome sharing the financial burden, and the family as a whole can become a stronger economic unit as a result.

Despite the increase in women breadwinners, the wage gap between women and men is still noticeable. The study found that although most of the primary-earner wives had twice the earnings of their husbands in 2003, they did not match the earning power of husbands who were primary breadwinners. Even in high-paying managerial and professional occupations, primary-earner wives earned an average of $68,200, while primary-earner husbands in the same occupations averaged $83,200.

In sales and service jobs, wives who were primary earners averaged $32,900, while primary-earner husbands in the same occupations earned an average of $51,600 (see “Dual-earner spouses” chart).

Primary-earner wives also contributed less to family income than primary-earner husbands, the study found. The authors say employment earnings of primary-earner wives in 2003 re-presented slightly more than half their families’ income. But the earnings of primary-earner husbands in the same year corresponded to two-thirds of family income.

The study says the average income of families in which the wife was the primary breadwinner also lagged behind that of families in which the husband was the primary earner. For instance, income of families with wives as primary breadwinners averaged $74,000 in 2003, while the average income of families in which husbands were primary breadwinners was $86,000.

Sussman and Bonnell say the tax system narrowed some of the gap, resulting in average after-tax income of $61,000 for families in which wives were the primary breadwinners, vs $69,000 when husbands were primary earners.

The study, which used data from StatsCan’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, also found primary-earner wives were slightly older than other working wives. As well, they were generally more educated than secondary-earner wives and primary-earner husbands. More than one-third of primary-earner wives had more education than their husbands. In 2003, for example, 30% of primary-earner wives had university degrees, compared with 21% of secondary-earner wives and 25% of primary-earner husbands.

The higher levels of education means that primary-breadwinner wives have also increased their presence in higher-paying occupations. In 2003, for instance, 40% of primary-earner wives were employed in managerial and professional occupations, compared with only 26% of secondary-earner wives who worked in these occupations. Primary-earner wives are more likely to have full-time jobs, work more paid hours a week and have more years of experience — all characteristics associated with higher earnings, the authors say.

Regardless of earnings, however, it seems that wives are still expected to shoulder the responsibility for organizing the household and making sure things get done, say Sussman and Bonnell. Other studies have shown that among couples in which the wife earned 50% more than her husband, the husbands did more housework, although their wives still did the lion’s share.

@page_break@“This uneven division of labour may become a source of tension, which might lead to dissatisfaction with the relationship and a higher incidence of divorce,” the authors say.

There were also marked differences in work patterns. Sussman and Bonnell found that almost 90% of primary-earner wives worked full-time in 2003, compared with less than 75% of those who were secondary earners. The full-time rate for primary-earner husbands was highest, at 98%, while secondary-earner husbands had a full-time rate similar to primary-earner wives.

The report also notes that, although most opportunities for promotion and earnings growth occur early in a person’s career, that is also when people are making decisions about marriage and starting a family.

“Women who miss this work stage, because of child-raising, will recover in terms of earnings only as their children grow older, or perhaps not at all,” the authors say.

They also note that only 15% of primary-earner wives had one or more preschool children at home, compared with almost one-quarter of secondary-earner wives. This is consistent with primary-earner wives being older and having more work experience, the authors say.

Other studies have found the average hourly earnings of women who delayed having children were 17% higher than the earnings of those women who had children early.

The study suggests that the trends in work patterns associated with primary-earner wives — full-time work, more paid weekly hours and more years of work experience — may also be linked to increased levels of stress and difficulty in maintaining a healthy balance between paid work and family demands.

For instance, other studies have found that professional and managerial women were less satisfied with their work/life balance and had greater chances of being “time-crunched” than other workers. IE