IDEX Online Research: Jewelers - Target Female Self-Purchasers, Part VIII

The model family of the 1950s, Dad is the sole earner and Mom is at home cooking three hot meals a day, is hard to be found in the U.S. these days. In this multi-part series, we are looking at what this means for jewelers. The good news: more women than ever before work outside of the home and now have the discretionary income to buy jewelry for themselves. The opportunity: better-educated and married women.

Women’s Earnings Affected by Education Level

Among women (and men), better-educated females earn more than those with less education.

·        Better-educated women earned significantly more than less-well educated females. Women without a high school diploma earned roughly one-third as much as a woman with a college degree. 

·        Between 1979 and 2007, inflation-adjusted wages for women with a college degree rose by 33% while inflation-adjusted wages for men with a college degree rose by a more modest 18%. 

Women’s Earnings Affected by Marriage

Many studies have shown that men who are married and have a family earn more than unmarried men. This holds true for women, as well.

·        Earnings for married women were higher than for their unmarried counterparts (this is the situation for males, too). As a group, married women tend to be older and are more likely to be in their prime earning years.