Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to this “price of time effect”, the “income effect” states that women whose husbands have higher incomes may be able to afford to stay at home. Traditionally, the better educated woman has a higher earning husband. Consequently, while her higher education encourages her to work, her husband’s income discourages her from joining the labor force.
The vacancy rate for industrial buildings, a sector that generally keeps pace with manufacturing activity, has flattened out around 10 percent over the past six quarters after having risen markedly for the preceding three years. Thus, at the moment, the various indicators are giving fairly mixed signals.