Ken Gassman continues to publish on www.idexonline.com his articles explaining to retailers the importance of attracting women who are ready to self-purchase jewelry. The analyst reminds that an ever growing number of American women work outside of the home and now have the discretionary income to buy jewelry for themselves.
Women’s earnings are affected by their education level, according to the analyst. Better-educated women earn significantly more than less-well educated females. Women without a high school diploma earn roughly one-third as much as a woman with a college degree.
Between 1979 and 2007, inflation-adjusted wages for women with a college degree rose by 33% while inflation-adjusted wages for men with a college degree rose by a more modest 18%.
Many studies have shown that men who are married and have a family earn more than unmarried men. This holds true for women, as well.
Earnings for married women were higher than for their unmarried counterparts (this is the situation for males, too). As a group, married women tend to be older and are more likely to be in their prime earning years.
Women have made substantial inroads into higher paying occupations. They hold roughly half of all management, professional, and related occupations. In part, this relates to increased educational levels for women. For example, in 1970, only 11 percent of all women between the ages of 25 and 64 had completed four or more years of college; today, more than one-third of all women in that age range hold a college degree.
In management, business and finance, the highest paying occupations for women were chief executives and computer and information systems managers.
Within professional and related occupations, women working as pharmacists, lawyers, and computer software engineers had the highest median earnings.
Asian women were more likely to be employed in management positions than white, black or Hispanic females.
Women account for more than half of all workers in each of the following industries: financial activities, education, health services, leisure and hospitality.
In a study on affluent households, the Conference Board found that female-headed affluent households have significant levels of income which can be spent on a variety of goods and services.
The Conference Board made some projections for 2010 which compared the aggregate amount of household income for female-headed households versus male-headed households. There is tremendous buying power among affluent households, whether headed by a female or a male.
Further, the Conference Board projects that male-headed affluent households will total about 13.3 million in 2010. In contrast, there are expected to be 5.4 million affluent households that will be headed by a female in 2010.
Age is not a major determinant in household discretionary income and jewelry expenditures, Ken Gassman believes.
Historically, jewelry expenditures varied substantially by age. In today’s market, age is much less of a determinant of jewelry spending. As the latest data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey shows on the graph below, per household spending on jewelry does not vary significantly by age.
The most important demographic factor which affects jewelry spending is the income level of a household. The graph below summarizes jewelry expenditures by income levels for American households.
When discretionary income levels are examined, the same conclusion can be drawn: discretionary income does not vary much by age. Rather, it varies dramatically by the number of wage earners in the family.
Since jewelry is purchased with consumers’ discretionary income, it is important for jewelers to focus on all ages of shoppers who enter their store, the analyst says.
