Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/24680
>THE NEW WORKFORCE Women becoming the majority of U.S. paid workers TOTAL WORKFORCE 50% WOMEN WORKFORCE 32% SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics a paid employee. That can lead to the paradoxical out- come that a married couple, both of whom are paid work- ers, can actually receive less Social Security benefits than a couple in which only one is in the paid workforce. Ac- cording to Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute, a lead- ing Social Security expert, the total lifetime benefits for a dual-working couple in which each earns $15,000 a year will be $177,000. But if one partner did not work and the other earned $30,000, they would receive lifetime benefits of approximately $273,000—an astonishing 54 percent more despite the same total income. Additionally, our system of taxing married couples’ com- bined incomes—rather than each partner’s individually— pushes the lower earner (often a woman, thanks to the wage gap and caregiving responsibilities) into an artificial- ly high tax bracket. That’s because her wages—her “first” dollars earned—are added to those of her spouse rather than treated separately. This “secondary earner penalty,” plus the fact that all workers pay payroll taxes on the first dollar earned regardless of whether they draw benefits or how much they make, means that a low- and even middle- income woman—after paying child care and transporta- tion—may not break even. Many are forced to rely on substandard child care or take a second job while others forgo marriage to prevent the secondary earner penalty. These are take-it-or-leave-it choices women shouldn’t be forced to make. left behind. We are at a time of opportunity—the country as a whole is realizing the need to reform many of our New Deal programs that are so important to our econo- my and to American families. We cannot let this opportu- nity to increase the economic security of all women—now 50 percent of paid workers—pass us by once again. Aswe reform the social safety net for the 21st-century economy, we must make sure that women are not Special thanks to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. KAREN KORNBLUH is a visiting fellow at the Center for American Progress. She served as policy director for then- Senator Barack Obama and founded the Work and Family Program of the New America Foundation. RACHEL HOMER has interned for the Feminist Majority Foundation, as well as worked for the Democratic National Committee on the 2008 Democratic Platform. 10.5% 4.6% 18.2% 16.8% 20.5% 25.2% 6.9% www.msmagazine.com Women in paid workforce with children under 5 Herself (sometimes during work or school) Other parent Grandparent Sibling or other relative Organized care Non-relative No regular arrangement PIECING TOGETHER CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS SOURCE: U.S. Census Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) FALL 2009 | 33