for only one parent to work. The 70s really were a period of transition -- at the start of the decade, less than 40% of families had dual earners, but by 1981, it was up to 55%.Through the 80s and 90s, almost two-thirds of families have two earners!This figure is deceptively low, since families where neither spouse has earnings are included in the statistics. These include those living on pensions instead of earnings from income. There are also some families have both parents unemployed. Families where neither spouse has income have grown from under 10% of all families in the 60s to 19% of all families in the 90s. What these statistics don't tell is the struggle families face as they try to balance the demands of working and caring for the family. This remains an issue, even among hard-nosed business types, many of whom rate the importance of balance between work and personal life as a very high priority. Statistics adapted from People Patterns Consulting and Statistics Canada.6. Entrepreneurial couplesIf dual-career couples are a phenomenon of the 1970s, entrepreneurial couples may be a phenomenon of the 1990s and leading us into the next century. One of the most rapidly growing groups of the self-employed are women (i.e., sole proprietorships) and couples (i.e., jointly owned sole proprietorships).The major styles of entrepreneurial couple include the solo-entrepreneur with a supportive spouse, the dual-entrepreneurial couple, the copreneurial couple, and even the dual-career couple considering entrepreneurship....
