A greater proportion of married women are now in the labor force than at any previous time. However, research on relationships between the employment status of wives and family- and social-relationship variables has begun only recently. Furthermore, most of the research on family and community correlates of employment of wives has been limited to urban samples. This report is based on a sample of 111 farm and 175 non-farm families living in Greene County, Iowa. The data from these families should contribute to the understanding of factors related to employment of wives from rural and small town families.

Two problems were investigated: ( 1) What factors are related to the employment decisions of wives? (2) What relationships exist between the employment of wives and selected family- and social-relationship variables? Employment decisions were studied in relation to three periods of employment: premarital employment, continuation of employment after marriage and employment during the past year.