Replies

Actually the math you describe only applies to people living above their means and well above the poverty line. For two earner families in the lower income brackets, both jobs are important.

Also, it is the lower income worker, not necessarily the female parent, who's income is going to pay for the cost of working in the first place.

the math you describe only applies to people living above their means and well above the poverty line. For two earner families in the lower income brackets, both jobs are important.

For those families well above the poverty line the second earner has the potential to earn far more than the cost of working. For those lower income families the cost of the second income is proportionately higher.

Actually the math you describe only applies to people living above their means and well above the poverty line. For two earner families in the lower income brackets, both jobs are important.

Not true. Its the lower income workers who are working almost for free. A second car+gas+insurance+taxes, income taxes, clothes, lunch out, day care for 1-2 children.

These items are pretty much fixed price regardless of your income. These costs don't exist if the wife is at home. These costs can also easily add up to $35,000 per year ($5K for ownership/insurance/gas/taxes on the car, $1K each for clothes and lunch, and $12K for daycare for two, then $16K in income/social security/state/local taxes on that $35K).

Also, it is the lower income worker, not necessarily the female parent, who's income is going to pay for the cost of working in the first place.

Again, not true. There is no "cost of working" for the first worker beyond the basics of transportation to work, work clothing and lunch away from home. Those are the more minimal costs to begin with. Daycare and a rarely used beyond commutation second car are the big ones.

What really drives women working is families desiring huge homes that one worker cannot pay for, multiple pricey cars/trucks, and a desire to spend $2K+ per month on discretionary items, food, and vacations.

In most of the country, a man earning $40,000 per year should be enough to afford a $100K house, a single family car, and a wife at home with the children. People who want more than this, and do not earn enough to support it, are the ones driving the women working kids in daycare phenomena.