2-INCOME FAMILIES WORKED MORE, BUT DID NOT GAIN, DATA SHOW

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992                   TAG: 9201170258
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
2-INCOME FAMILIES WORKED MORE, BUT DID NOT GAIN, DATA SHOW
A large majority of two-earner families with children had to work harder simply to stay in place during the 1980s, according to a congressional study released Thursday that documents the widely felt syndrome of "middle-class squeeze."
The study illustrates a sharp disparity between those who prospered in the 1980s and those who did not. It is particularly striking because it looked at the incomes of families with two wage earners and children - a group many assumed had fared better than individuals or one-wage-earner families.
Families with incomes above $63,000 - the wealthiest one-fifth - saw their incomes increase 15 percent. Families who made less than $35,000 - two-fifths of all two-earner families - saw their incomes stagnate and, in many cases, decline despite working longer hours.
Families in the middle of the income ladder were able to increase their incomes slightly in the 1980s, but only because wives greatly increased the hours they worked. Measured in dollars per hour - or looked at in terms of the hours left for parents to spend time with their children - those families saw their standard of living fall, the study concluded.
The study by the staff of the congressional Joint Economic Committee was based on Census Bureau data to 1989. It thus does not take into account the impact of the current recession.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB