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Marriage “Pays Off”


Marriage “Pays Off”
With unemployment rates rising above 10 percent in the U.S. – and even higher in California – a new study reveals the economic advantages of marriage.
The study, titled “New Economics of Marriage – The Rise of Wives” published by The Pew Research Center reveals that the roles of husbands and wives have changed significantly since 1970. Women are now more educated and earning a higher percentage of the family income, a trend that has helped lessen negative financial impact on married couples during these difficult economic times.
Forty years ago, the typical man did not gain another breadwinner to the household when he married. Today he does – giving his household increased earning power that most unmarried men do not enjoy. This trend has enabled married men to surpass unmarried men in their median household income.
The economic downturn has hurt employment of men more than that of women. Males accounted for about 75% of the 2008 decline in employment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009). Women are moving toward a new milestone in which they constitute half of all the employed. Their share increased slightly from 46.5% in December 2007 to 47.4% in December 2009.
A larger percentage of men today are married to women whose education and income exceed their own. In 1970 only 4 percent of wives earned more than their husbands. That number has now grown to 22 percent. In 2007, median household incomes of three groups – married men, married women and unmarried women – were about 60% higher than those of their counterparts in 1970. But for a fourth group, unmarried men, the increase in median household income was smaller – just 16%.
Another reason for the economic gains of married adults is that those with more education are far more likely to be married than those with less education, a gap that has widened since 1970. Because higher education tends to lead to higher earnings, these changes have bolstered the economic gains for married men and women.
Among US-born 30- to 44-year-olds, women now are the majority of both college graduates and those who have some college credits without a degree. Women’s earnings grew 44% from 1970 to 2007, compared with 6% growth for their male counterparts.
For single adults, men’s household incomes fared worse than those of women. Unmarried women in 2007 had higher household incomes than their 1970 counterparts at each level of education. But unmarried men without any post-secondary education lost ground because their real earnings decreased and they did not have a wife’s wages to buffer that decline. Unmarried men who did not complete high school or who had earned only a high school diploma had lower household incomes in 2007 than their counterparts did in 1970. Income for unmarried men with some college education was relatively unchanged.
California Family Council is dedicated to keeping you informed on the latest issues and research. Please visit our website at www.CaliforniaFamily.org often and join us as we work together to strengthen California’s families.
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