<p>According to the third row in this table from the <a href="https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/explaining-us-income-inequality-by-household-demographics-2018-update/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">American Enterprise Institute</a> (they credit the Census Bureau but I could not find the same indicators in their data)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/pBJz1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/pBJz1.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>your hypothesis is incorrect: the Mean Number of Earners per Household is increasing in income for each Quintile. </p>

<p>I am surprised by the average number of earners in the highest quintile, but I think it is not very surprising that the poorest people are poor because they have trouble finding stable employment. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-16T19:00:55.597Z
2019-12-16T19:00:55.597Z
Giskard
<p>I have a hypothesis that single-income families greatly increase as you get into the mid to upper middle class bracket. And that 2+ income sources are common in lower classes and also the extremely rich.</p>

<p>I can't verify this though because I can't find any research that looks into how many single income households there are by class. Instead, I see mostly gender connections. </p>

<p>Does anyone know of any research that could be helpful here?</p>

<reference-request><labor-economics>
Breadwinners by class
wnlp1293
# Breadwinners by class

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-16)

I have a hypothesis that single-income families greatly increase as you get into the mid to upper middle class bracket. And that 2+ income sources are common in lower classes and also the extremely rich.

I can't verify this though because I can't find any research that looks into how many single income households there are by class. Instead, I see mostly gender connections.

Does anyone know of any research that could be helpful here?

**Tags:** reference-request, labor-economics

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-12-16. Score: 1

According to the third row in this table from the [American Enterprise Institute](https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/explaining-us-income-inequality-by-household-demographics-2018-update/) (they credit the Census Bureau but I could not find the same indicators in their data)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/pBJz1.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/pBJz1.png)

your hypothesis is incorrect: the Mean Number of Earners per Household is increasing in income for each Quintile.

I am surprised by the average number of earners in the highest quintile, but I think it is not very surprising that the poorest people are poor because they have trouble finding stable employment.


---

