Moonlighting Husbands or Working Wives

Abstract

In households where the husband is the primary income earner, family income may be augmented either by the husband taking a second job (moonlighting) or by the wife obtaining a first job. In this article, binary logit estimating techniques are employed to investigate empirically the types of factors affecting this decision. The data used in the empirical analysis are Wave X (1977) of the University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The authors find that the relative labor market opportunities of the husband and the wife, the value of the alternative uses of the wife's time, and the attitudes of both the husband and the wife toward the wife's market work all play a significant and predictable role as determinants of moonlighting. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.