Report predicts 'more female breadwinners'

Over the next 50 years, more and more women will become the main breadwinner in UK families, a new study by NS&I (National Savings and Investments) reveals.

The Century of Saving report examines the ways in which Britain's savings culture has evolved over the past 50 years and predicts how it will change over the coming five decades.

According to the research, by 2057 women will be contributing a much higher percentage of household income and will have a greater say in financial decisions, a huge shift from the balance of earnings and decision-making in 1957.

British women still earn considerably less on average than men (£1,080 a month versus £1,486), but the report suggests that this gap is rapidly narrowing, with women in their twenties now earning 96 per cent of men's wages.

More than one quarter (27 per cent) of 16-to-24 year-old women surveyed stated that they would prefer to be a main breadwinner rather than a stay at home parents and the Future Foundation forecasts that one in four couples will have a female main earner by 2030, rising sharply from 14 per cent today.

"In 2007, we are seeing the emergence of a generation of women who are better educated, more ambitious, and more financially confident than any before them," William Nelson of the Future Foundation said. "This generation is already more likely to handle day-to-day financial matters than their male partners, and demands to have at least an equal say in the big decisions."

© Adfero Ltd
Date:06/08/2007 11:34:20