The rise of the dual-earner family with children, 1976 to 2015

Introduction 

It takes two.

More and more Canadian families with children are finding that two incomes are better than one, as an increasing number of women have opted to join the workforce.

The number of Canadian families with two employed parents has almost doubled in the last 40 years―from 1.0 million to 1.9 million families, from 1976 to 2015. Over that period, the proportion of families where just one parent earned a paycheque fell by more than half, dropping from 59% to 27%. In turn, the proportion of dual-income families has nearly doubled, from 36% to 69%.