Research Briefs are short excerpts about interesting academic research.
big ideas
Our new peer-reviewed research shows that in more than half of ultra-high-net-worth heterosexual couples (defined as couples in the top 1% of households), the man is the sole breadwinner, while the woman is not employed. . This is double the rate for less affluent heterosexual couples.
Our findings are based on 30 years of data from the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances from 1989 to 2019. We focus on three different affluent groups defined by wealth percentile: the ultra-rich, the average rich, and the upper middle class, and examine how couples divide work. They compared them to a group of less affluent couples.
To better understand the amount of money we're talking about and the extreme differences between these groups, the median net worth of ultra-high-net-worth couples in the United States in 2019 was $17.6 million. In comparison, the wealthy couple has a net worth of $2.3 million. The next 9% of the wealth distribution went to the upper middle class, and the next 10% received $796,000. Our fourth group of hers consisted of everyone below the 80% threshold, with a median wealth of just $67,000.
In 2019, 53% of ultra-high-net-worth heterosexual couples had arrangements in which women were not advantageously employed, compared to 27% of wealthy couples and 20% of upper-middle-class couples who were less wealthy. Among couples who did not, the rate was 26%.
Conversely, only 28% of ultra-high-net-worth couples have both men and women working full time. For wealthy, upper middle class, and less wealthy households, the numbers were 51%, 61%, and 50%, respectively.
This becomes clear when you look at the data over time. The proportion of couples in which only the man is working has declined slightly in other groups over the past 30 years, but remains high among the ultra-wealthy.
why is it important
The unique prevalence of male-only breadwinner arrangements among the ultra-wealthy is a symptom of deep class and gender inequality in the U.S. economy.
The widening class gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of the world is driven by the exponential growth in income and wealth of some men relative to others.
And even though more women are entering professional jobs that earn more than $100,000, the glass ceiling, or perhaps more appropriately called the diamond ceiling, remains firmly in place.
Therefore, if the husband earns an outrageously high income of 1 million or more, it may seem that the effect of the woman's objectively high income on the overall household finances is not so great. Or it may seem like a trivial matter when the couple has a huge fortune of more than $10 million for her.
The lack of women at the top of the economy has many implications.
The ultra-wealthy have enormous power in the workplace and politics. If the majority of the wealthiest married women are not in the labor force, they are unlikely to have the same degree of social influence as their husbands. As such, men continue to wield most of the social power associated with the ultra-wealthy.
We also know that family structure shapes people's worldviews and behaviors. Previous research has shown that men with stay-at-home moms have less support for women in their workplaces, including being less likely to be promoted. This suggests that the most powerful leaders in the workplace and politics may not be as keen on supporting women's career advancement and family-friendly workplace policies as some hope. are doing.
what we don't know yet
We don't know what exactly drives the work and family decisions of ultra-wealthy couples.
We believe that at least some of the women in these couples left the labor force after their partners achieved financial success and no longer needed the income to sustain their lifestyles.
It is also possible that the wealth accumulation of some of the super-rich may have been made possible in part by their wives' unpaid work throughout their careers.
The highest-paying jobs in the U.S. economy tend to require long hours, frequent travel, and the ability to be available 24/7, all of which tend to be incompatible with raising children and managing household finances.
Men may have been able to meet these demanding job demands and succeed financially because they had wives who stepped back from their careers, freeing them from most of the household responsibilities. Few women have access to power relations.
