The Recession Has Turned the Term ""Breadwinner"" on its Head

The Great Recession is widely acknowledged to be the worst financial situation since the Great Depression, setting new benchmarks in terms of job loss, unemployment rates, and length of time unemployed. From December 2007 to January 2010, the U.S. economy lost 8.7 million jobs, with the bulk of job loss occurring in the first quarter of 2009.2 Although the official end of the recession was in June 2009, job loss continued into January 2010. Since then, the economy has added jobs slowly, and despite 26 consecutive months of job gains (from June 2010 to September 2012), the economy has only gained 47 percent of the jobs lost, or 4.2 million, owing in part to job loss in the government sector since the end of the recession.

What people may not know is that the The Great Recession affected men's employment more than women's, with 69 percent of the jobs lost held by men. Overall unemployment reached a high of 10.0 percent in October 2009, with men's unemployment at 11.2 percent and women's at 8.7 percent. In September 2012, the unemployment rate dipped below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009.5 Job loss has been particularly high among African American men, lower-educated men, and workers in male-dominated industries, such as construction and manufacturing. In contrast, the economy added jobs in some femaledominated industries, such as education and health services during the recession.

Married-couple families have responded to a husband's job loss with an increased dependence on wives' earnings. Research on the Great Recession shows that wives increased their labor force activity and increased their hours spent working for pay. The slow economic recovery means that American families continue to experience the pain of economic recession. The final toll of the Great Recession on families is still unknown, with family poverty rates rising and family income levels falling during the recession. Since the recession ended, poverty levels have begun to stabilize, but family income has continued to fall.7

Key Findings of Research by the Carsey Institute include:
Employed wives' contribution to total family
earnings jumped to 47 percent in 2009 from 45
percent in 2008-the largest single-year increase
during the past 23 years-and has held
steady at 47 percent in 2010 and 2011.
Recessions substantially accelerate the trend of
increased reliance on wives' earnings. In all three
recessions since 1988, annual increases in wives'
share of total family earnings rose substantially.
Employed wives' share of total family earnings
is higher and more responsive to economic
downturns when the husband has a high school
degree or less compared with a college degree.