Most women who maintain families receive poor labor market returns.

Abstract

Women who maintain their own families I are considerably more likely to work or look for work today than in the past . But their historical pattern of marginal earnings and high unemployment persists, keeping the economic status of their families well below that of the majority of American families . The results of a March 1983 nationwide survey2 reveal a continuation of the multiple problems that hinder many women who support families from being more competitive in the marketplace . Prominent among these problems are lower average educational attainment and relatively higher proportions with children to raise .