John Robinson, a sociologist who heads the survey research center there, said two-earner households do have a time crunch.

This dynamic shift from the one-earner household to the two-earner household dramatically changed the socioeconomic class system of this country.

In the new advertisements, the Governor speaks directly to the camera about day care, drugs, the problems facing two-earner households, trade and the national debt.

Because women earn less and because two-earner households have higher earnings, families headed by women have far less income than do married-couple families.

Sometimes I guess we resort to daddy-dissing because life in two-earner households with children can be a strain, and it's good to let off steam.

But that, he said, was because the old one was so simple, not considering, for example, two-earner households.

In a two-earner household, for instance, maybe one of you can quit and go back to school, or even see the kids once in awhile.

Although working hours have fallen slightly for men, an increase in hours worked by women means that, overall, the hours being worked in two-earner households have risen.

There are many fewer two-earner households, so the 'housewife effect' may be important.

Current law allows $4,000 in I.R.A. contributions for two-earner households but limits married couples to $2,250 a year if only one spouse has earned income.