Since 1960, when the percentage of married adults had hit its peak at 72%, marriage has since diminished in the United States. As reported by the census data that was studied by Pew Research Center, the drastic drop began in the 1990s.
The Journal of Marriage and Family has a theory that it may be due to a shortage of economically attractive partners.
“Most American women hope to marry but current shortages of marriageable men — men with a stable job and a good income — make this increasingly difficult, especially in the current gig economy of unstable low-paying service jobs,” said lead author Daniel T. Lichter, Ph.D., of Cornell University. “Marriage is still based on love, but it also is fundamentally an economic transaction. Many young men today have little to bring to the marriage bargain, especially as young women’s educational levels on average now exceed their male suitors.”
There are two sets of five-year segments created and analyzed with data from American Community Survey from researchers from 2008-2012, the second segment from 2013-2017.
The data collected was used to estimate similar characteristics of single women’s prospective spouse to husbands of similar womens husband. Data collected was racial identity, education, income, etc.
After estimations were made, researchers found that women’s prospective husbands would have an average income that is 58 percent higher than the actual single men are currently able to provide to single women. The hypothetical potential husbands were also estimated to be 30 percent more likely to be employed and 19 percent more likely to have graduated from college.
Single women currently want more than what single men can currently provide.
Unmarried women with either low or high socioeconomic status, as well as racial and ethnic minorities, especially African-American women, were found to suffer the most from the defecit of prospective single men, the study suggests.
Marriage rates are more closely related to social economic status than ever before, according to Pew Research Center’s analysis of Census Bureau data which shows that the lack of education in marital status has been growing.
“In 2015, among adults ages 25 and older, 65% with a four-year college degree were married, compared with 55% of those with some college education and 50% among those with no education beyond high school. Twenty-five years earlier, the marriage rate was above 60% for each of these groups,” the analysis found.
The analysis also found that not being prepared financially is the most common reason given by 41 percent of never-married adults who would like to get married in the future when asked why they have yet to do so.
Single adults with family incomes below $75,000 are much more likely to cite a lack of financial security as a major reason they are not married. Forty-seven percent of single adults with an income below $30,000 and 40 percent of those with incomes in the range of $30,000 to $74,999 say financial instability keeps them from getting married, while only 21 percent of single adults who make more than $75,000 cite financial reasons for not being married.
