Summary This paper examines household structure, human capital and returns to education, earnings, female work-force participation and investment in human capital. The cohort approach was used, consisting of following males and females born during the same year over a period of time, data being supplied by the quarterly National Household Surveys (beginning in 1976). Younger parents are having less children; this process has coincided with greater female work-force participation and levels of schooling. The younger generation of women has reached higher levels of education than men; the income gap between men and women from the new generation has become closer. Human capital has been unequally accumulated by different income groups.