Charleston Gazette – Wives in West Virginia bring in more of their families’ income than married women in all but one other state, according to a recent study. Read
In the Mountain State, women provided 50.1 percent of their families’ income, according to the July 29 study from the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy. Only Florida, at 50.5 percent, had a higher rate.
The recession of the past several years impacted men’s employment far more than women’s, with 69 percent of jobs lost being held by men, according to the study states. Nationally, employed wives’ share of family earnings increased from 44 percent in 2007 to 47 percent in 2009, where it remained through 2012.
“Overall nationally, and West Virginia is no outlier here, we’ve seen a huge change from a goods-producing economy to a service-providing economy — more women are able to get into those jobs,” said West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Executive Director Ted Boettner, “unlike construction, manufacturing, coal mining, natural gas extraction, which tend to be very male dominated fields unfortunately.”
