High levels of heterogeneity and instability characterize the Brazilian labor market. In addition, the growth of the percentage of women in the labor force is especially due to the fact that more married women are working, which means that female role in families and society has been undergoing changes. This paper investigates the relationship among occupational and non-occupational characteristics of the "head of the family" and his "spouse" as a way to obtain inferences about family well-being. The data-base used is the "Occupational Mobility Survey" linked to the "Employment and Unemployment Survey", which were carried out in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area from April to December 2001. Typologies were created by applying the "Grade of Membership", a method that deals better with heterogeneity. A high degree of heterogeneity of marriages was found. Age, education and the spouses' economic strategies, especially related to the wife's labor force participation, make up the determinant factors to distinguish the couples.
family; GoM; typology; labour market
