June 23, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Wives who earn more than their husbands

In 2003, 25 percent of working wives whose husbands also worked earned more than their husbands.

Percent of wives who earn more than their husbands (families where both have earnings), 1987-2003
[Chart data—TXT]

This is up from 18 percent in 1987.

Among all married-couple families in which the wife (but not necessarily the husband) had earnings from work in 2003, 32 percent of the wives earned more than their husbands. This is a third higher than the 1987 figure of 24 percent.

These data on earnings are from the Current Population Survey. For more information see "Women in the Labor Force: A Databook," BLS Report 985.