It's not quite time to declare the 1950s' "men-at-work" mindset dead. But that day is clearly approaching.

CareerBuilder surveyed men and women at work, asking them not only about their on-the-job experience but also about the connection between home and office. The responses indicate that men and women have gone through an evolution that is bringing us back to the 1950s in one way, but with a significant twist.

The 1950s saw households run by women with men as the breadwinners. It was an era of single wage-earners. Then, over the next few decades, the dual bread-winner household emerged — but with women still "rewarded" with most of the household chores.

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Now, according to this survey, America is reverting back to a single breadwinner — and that may be a man or woman, with women approaching 50 percent of single wage-earners. But men still enjoy certain advantages that suggest more change is on the way.

Here are the major findings of the survey, which was an extensive one, with input from more than 2,000 employers and 464 working mothers and 340 working fathers with children 18 years old and younger who are living at home with them:

  • More parents are the sole breadwinners in their households with women nearing the same percentage as men;

  • Working dads are more likely to earn their desired salary;

  • Working moms are more likely to say their work has suffered from being a parent and are more likely to say work has negatively impacted relationships with their kids;

  • Nearly 1 in 10 working moms have included their parenting experience on their resumes.

Let's take a closer look at some of the findings.

Sole breadwinners: CareerBuilder says, "The number of working parents who are the sole breadwinners in their households is climbing, and the gap between men and women is closing. Thirty-nine percent of working moms and 43 percent of working dads reported they are the sole financial providers in their homes, up from 31 percent and 37 percent, respectively, in 2014."

Desired salary: Men still have the edge here, although it turns out most everyone wants to make more money than they are. "Working dads were significantly more likely to report they currently earn their desired salaries — 28 percent compared to 17 percent of working moms," CareerBuilder reported.

Feeling successful at home and work: This is a tough one. Neither gender has a real edge — 34 percent of women say they are more successful at home than at work, compared to 32 percent of men. About half think they do a good job at both places. More working dads than moms said they felt successful at work, but only by a slight margin (19 percent to 15 percent).

Work/life balance: Again, men report an advantage, with more feeling more balanced between home and work than women. Moms spend more time with their kids outside of work than do dads, but more women say work hurts their parenting abilities despite the survey data, which showed that 57 percent of working women spend four or more hours with their children every day, compared to 35 percent of working dads. Just 6 percent of working moms say they spend an hour or less with their children each day, compared to 13 percent of working dads.

"Despite spending more quality time with their children, working moms are nearly twice as likely as working dads to say their job has negatively affected their relationships with their children — 25 percent of working moms versus 13 percent of working dads," CareerBuilder said. "Women are also more likely than men to say being a parent has caused their professional work to suffer — 17 percent of working moms versus 9 percent of working dads."

 

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.