The effect of working wives on the incidence of poverty (ABSTRACT), Monthly Labor Review Online, Mar. 1998

The effect of working wives on the incidence of poverty

Peter Cattan
Associate Faculty Member, Center for Labor Research and Studies, Florida International University, Miami, Florida

Earnings of working wives markedly lowered the incidence of poverty for all ethnic and race groups. Poverty rates for Mexican immigrant and Cuban families dropped by hefty 25- and 20-percentage points, respectively, as a result of wives' earnings. Using data from the BLS Current Population Survey, this article also concludes that the relative declines, which adjust for starting points, in poverty rates tended to fall at a faster pace for white families than for minorities.

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