By 2010 that number jumped to 2.66. Meanwhile, the reverse is true for women in the bottom 10% of wage earners who were having 3.38 kids on average in 1980 compared to 2.96 in 2010. The report from the St.Louis Federal Reserve concludes that as income rises it makes more sense for women to pay for childcare costs so that they can work longer hours. Working longer hours allows them to further increase their income and be able to financially afford to have more children.
