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wasteofo2
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I was just reading an old play in which one character tells another that women who don't marry or hold a career often become pathetic leeches - living off the begrudged hospitality of relatives who don't want them anyway.
Which brought up something I've been thinking about a lot lately. In the past, it was the status quo that in a family, the father would hold a job and the mother would stay at home. Now, women frequently work, and as a result, should be making more money collectively for their families (assuming their husbands work as well). However, I've been wondering, with such a huge increase in the supply of laborers, has the value of wages paid decreased across the board, with such a huge increase in the supply? Or, has the huge increase in the supply of labor that women provided allowed for an equally huge expansion of jobs, allowing for wages to stay closer to constant than not (though I realize women are still not payed on-par with men).
Does anyone have any sort of data that could show a trend either way, whether women tending to work has in general caused the income of families to increase, stay the same, or decrease relatively?
Which brought up something I've been thinking about a lot lately. In the past, it was the status quo that in a family, the father would hold a job and the mother would stay at home. Now, women frequently work, and as a result, should be making more money collectively for their families (assuming their husbands work as well). However, I've been wondering, with such a huge increase in the supply of laborers, has the value of wages paid decreased across the board, with such a huge increase in the supply? Or, has the huge increase in the supply of labor that women provided allowed for an equally huge expansion of jobs, allowing for wages to stay closer to constant than not (though I realize women are still not payed on-par with men).
Does anyone have any sort of data that could show a trend either way, whether women tending to work has in general caused the income of families to increase, stay the same, or decrease relatively?
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