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March 1990

Family members in the work force

Howard Hayghe

Work patterns of families have become so diverse in recent decades that a specific family type can no longer be identified as "typical". This article traces the changing labor force characteristics of families over the years since the Monthly Labor Review began publication. It looks back to the pre-World War II era to provide a picture of family labor force characteristics during the early decades of this century, and traces the broad trends from 1940 to the present, focusing on the current situation.

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