More U.S. women are main wage earners

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Education and earning capability of U.S. women in recent decades have changed the view of the man as the main wage-earner in a marriage, a research agency says.

A larger number of men in 2007, when compared with their 1970 counterparts, are married to women whose educational and income levels exceed their own, a Pew Research Center analysis of demographic and economic trend statistics released Tuesday indicates. Conversely, a larger share of women are married to men with less education and income.

Pew researchers said 2007 median household incomes of three groups -- married men, married women and unmarried women -- were about 60 percent higher than similar 1970 groups. However, for a fourth group, unmarried men, the increase in median household income was a mere 16 percent.

The report reviewed how changes in two components of a marriage -- income and education -- played out among U.S.-born men and women ages 30-44, a time when adults typically have completed their education, entered the work force and married.

In 1970, 28 percent of wives in this age bracket had better-educated husbands and 20 percent of wives had more education than their husbands, Pew said. By 2007, 19 percent of wives had husbands with more education while 28 percent had spouses with less education. In both 1970 and 2007, the remaining couples had spouses of similar educational levels.

Women's earnings grew 44 percent from 1970 to 2007, compared with 6 percent growth for men, narrowing the earning gap, the research center said. Median earnings of female workers in 2007 were 71 percent of earnings of comparable men, compared with 52 percent in 1970.