Do Working Wives Increase Family Income Inequality?

findings, or recommendations expressed here are tho~e of thea'llthor and do net necessarily reflect views of the.National Science.Foundation. The.author wishes to thank Jeannie Nakano and NancvWilliamsonfor valuable This note measures the contribution of wives ' earnings to family income inequality in 1967 and 1974. The earnings of wives have a small equalizing impact on the distribution of family income that remained relatively stable between 1967 and 1974, despite rapid increases in the work experience of wives. In 1951, abo~t 23 % of married women were in the paid labor force; by 1974 their labor force participation rates had more th&n doubied. During the early post World War II period, married women were more likely to work if family income from other sources were low. In such cases, the earnings of wives raised the incomes of families located at the