Impact of Married Women's Employment on Individual Household Member Expenditures for Clothing

Abstract

Family member and per capita clothing expenditures are estimated via tobit, using 1980-1981 Consumer Expenditure Survey data. Occupation categories are developed and implicit wage rates imputed for each wife in the sample. Employed-wife households have higher expenditures for clothing than do nonemployed-wife households and wife's occupation differentially affects family member expenditures. Wife's implicit wage is not significant, while wife's unearned income has a positive impact on all categories of expenditures except for infants. These results indicate that it is not possible to generalize across family members about the influence of income and sociodemographic variables on clothing expenditures.The dramatic increase in married women's labor force participation has resulted in two-earner, husband-wife families outnumbering families in which the wife is not employed (Hayghe and Haugen 1987). In the past, wife's employment was viewed as secondary or intermittent but married women are now a significant and permanent part of the paid work force.Wives' employment frequently leads to more dependence on the marketplace for goods and services as wives' time for home work and leisure declines (Strober 1977;Vickery 1979). Employed-wife families appear to substitute one-use goods and purchased services, e.g., meals away from home and child care, for wives' home time (Bellante and Foster 1984), but appear to spend less on at least some durables when wives devote more time to paid labor due to comple-

Inter-regional Analysis of Household Apparel Expenditures in the United States

“…Given the reliance of these studies on economic theory for a theoretical framework, some measure of income is typically included. As economic theory predicts, empirical support for a positive relationship between income (or total expenditures) and apparel expenditures was found (Dardis et al, 1981;DeWeese, 1993;DeWeese and Norton, 1991;Douthitt and Fedyk, 1988;Nelson, 1989;Norum, 1989Norum, ,1992Wagner and Hanna, 1983;Zhang and Norton, 1995). Total consumption expenditures, used in several studies to proxy income (Dardis et aL, 1981;Nelson, 1989;Wagner and Hanna, 1983), provide a better fit in models built for prediction purposes (Dardis et al, 1981).…”

“…Education, occupation, and employment status are frequently included in clothingdemand studies (Dardis ef a/., 1981;DeWeese, 1993;DeWeese and Norton, 1991;Douthitt and Fedyk, 1988;Nelson, 1989;Norum, 1989Norum, ,1992Wagner and Hanna, 1983;Zhang and Norton, 1995). Previous research shows that higher levels of educational attainment and occupational status are positively related to clothing expenditures (Dardis et al, 1981;DeWeese, 1993;DeWeese and Norton, 1991;Douthitt and Fedyk, 1988;Nelson, 1989;Norum, 1989Norum, ,1992Wagner and Hanna, 1983;Zhang and Norton, 1995).…”

“…Previous research shows that higher levels of educational attainment and occupational status are positively related to clothing expenditures (Dardis et al, 1981;DeWeese, 1993;DeWeese and Norton, 1991;Douthitt and Fedyk, 1988;Nelson, 1989;Norum, 1989Norum, ,1992Wagner and Hanna, 1983;Zhang and Norton, 1995).…”

“…Neo-classical economic theory provides the framework upon which most analyses of household expenditures for apparel are based (Dardis ef a/., 1981;DeWeese, 1993;DeWeese and Norton, 1991;Douthitt and Fedyk, 1988;Nelson, 1989;Norum, 1989Norum, ,1992Wagner and Hanna, 1983;Zhang and Norton, 1995). From this perspective, households are assumed to maximize their utility subject to a budget constraint resulting in demand functions for the goods that give rise to utility.…”

“…During the past fifteen years, US clothing demand has received iucreasmg attention from academic researchers (Dardis et al, 1981;DeWeese, 1993;DeWeese and Norton, 1991;Nelson, 1989;Norum, 1989Norum, ,1992Wagner and Hanna, 1983;Zhang and Norton, 1995), Researchers measured income elasticities, explored the effect of family life cycle and composition, and analyzed the role of labor participation in clothing demand. Region, although included in many of the analyses, was not a primary focus of any of the studies.…”