Probably not. While a crude calculation, it will work for my purposes. Take the one-way commute mileage times the price of gas times 25, and you have the fuel cost of Mom working. (The assumed car is one that gets 20 mpg.) So if Mom drives 20 miles to work each day and gas goes up $2/gal, the household is out of an extra $1,000. Where Mom gets dinged wage wise has been the physical cost of the extra vehicle, insuring it, and maintaining it; daycare; additional home food costs due to more processing being needed and more dining out; and additional clothing expense to maintain a work wardrobe. Among the numerous studies on the matter, what we find is that many Moms make under $2/hr after accounting for all their troubles.
In many respects, many families will need to have both spouses in the work force. Given high costs of housing and insurance, a number of families don’t have the option of a stay-at-home parent even if they desired one. (For the record, my wife doesn’t work outside the home, but such isn’t a reflection of exceptional income.) Given the high costs of commuting, I’m curious if higher gas prices will signal a re-urbanization. This would of course need to be accompanied by a public transit infrastructure that most of our cities today lack.
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