The family work week
By Katherine Marshall
Average weekly paid work hours of couples rose from 58 to 65 between 1976 and 2008, coinciding with the increase in families with two earners.
Although dual-earner couples have become the dominant family form (7 out of 10 couples in 2008), their combined average work hours have remained stable at around 77 over the past 30 years.
The average weekly hours of dual-earner husbands and wives have converged from a difference of 9 in 1997 (43 and 34, respectively) to 7 hours in 2008 (42 and 35), placing two-thirds of couples in an equal work-hours category (their hours being within 10% of each other).
In 2008, hourly earnings of wives were 81% of husbands' earnings. With hours and earning power increasing for wives, their overall contribution to family weekly earnings increased steadily between 1997 and 2008, reaching 41% ($740) in 2008.
One-quarter of dual-earner men and one-third of women reported feeling severely time stressed in 2005, but, given the choice, the majority said they preferred their current work hours or even more hours.
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