E C O N O M I C R E P O R T O F T H E P R E S I D E N T

etween men and women, and between whites and minorities, have not yetdisappeared, they have shrunk significantly.The “typical” family today is much more diverse. Some 28 percent ofchildren now live in single-parent families, and another 44 percent live infamilies where both parents are in the paid labor force. Only 24 percent ofchildren now live in what used to be the typical model of a breadwinnerfatherand homemaker-mother. Meanwhile many other types of familyarrangements, including unmarried-partner households and same-sexpartnerhouseholds, have become more commonplace.Today, the vast majority of households have electricity, telephones, andautomobiles. A number of appliances that did not exist 100 years ago arenow considered common, if not essential, household fixtures: televisions,videocassette recorders, refrigerators, washing machines, wireless phones,and personal computers, to name a few.America’s international trade (exports plus imports) now amounts to nearly25 percent of GNP. Both trade and cross-border investment have beenspurred by a range of new technologies and products that have cut transportcosts and allowed producers and investors continents apart to coordinatetheir activities with ever greater ease. A U.S. computer manufacturer canimport components from foreign suppliers or its own overseas facilities.International mutual funds allow American families to diversify their savingsacross both industrial and emerging markets abroad. And with the advent ofe-commerce, consumers around the world can order a wealth of goods thatthey might never find at their local shopping centers.The Drivers of Change and the Challenges AheadThese dramatic changes have been driven by a number of factors. As thisReport has outlined, among the most important are technology, demographicchange, and globalization. America now faces a number of unique challengesas we try to maximize the benefits to all Americans of the internationallyintegrated, technologically advanced economy in which we now live.TechnologyFrom electricity to mass production to telecommunications and e-commerce,technological innovation has been a constant in the American economy, and itseffects have been far-reaching. Entire industries that only a few decades ago didnot even exist, such as the computer industry, are now leading engines ofgrowth. Between 1995 and 1998, information technology-producing industriescontributed, on average, 35 percent of the Nation’s real economic growth.Computers are cited as a principal factor in the recent increase in productivity280 | Economic Report of the President