Women's participation and economic downturns
By Yuqian Lu and René Morissette
While only 1 out of 2 unemployed husbands had a working spouse in the early 1980s, almost 7 out of 10 did so during the most recent economic downturn. In both periods, the working wives of these unemployed husbands averaged about 30 hours of work per week.
Between two downturns (1981 to 1983 and 2008 to 2009), the employment rate of wives grew by at least 25 percentage points for couples where husbands were unemployed and 45 to 64 years of age.
Meanwhile, the composition of the unemployed population has shifted from married or cohabiting individuals toward individuals who do not have a partner to provide additional employment income when they experience an unemployment spell. During the 1981 to 1983 downturn, 59% of unemployed individuals were married or living in a common-law relationship. This proportion fell to 53% during the 2008 to 2009 period.
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