> She took over from my grandfather when he got sick and he became the house husband. Neither would have her husband been counted in the non-farm labour force

> She took over from my grandfather when he got sick and he became the house husband. Neither would have her husband been counted in the non-farm labour force survey. Thus swapping husband for wife would not have shown up as a change in the first place. This is an interesting discussion. I remember my economists professor talking about how in Alberta during the 2006 boom labour force participation dropped as wages increased. In that case it was an example of the in-elasticity of labour demand. From the social aspect it was an example of how for many families 2 working parents is not optional. A situation was fully true earlier in the industrial revolution. As the revolution progressed and labour had more negotiation power over capital real wages rose and duel working parents decreased. Thus my pet theory is that the reduction in real wages is a non-trivial driving force for the current historic high labour force participation stats.