
Over 10 Million Men of Prime Working Age Are Unemployed in the US and Experts Think It's Causing Declining Marriage Rates
Article here. Excerpt:
'More than 10 million men, or one out of every six in the 25 to 54 age bracket, are unemployed in the United States, and only about one third of them say they are actively seeking jobs. Experts believe this dire condition could also be causing declining marriage rates.
"Some of them are looking for jobs. Two-thirds say they aren't. Some are supported by families or friends; men without jobs are far less likely to be married than men with jobs. About 2 million of these prime-age men are on Social Security Disability Insurance," said David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution in a report Thursday.
...
"The costs of having so many prime age men on the sidelines of the economy can be measured in lost wages, the rising tab for government benefits, foreclosures and bankruptcies. But the costs go beyond dollars and cents. As my Brookings colleague Ron Haskins has noted, the decline in the share of men who are working might be one reason behind the fall in marriage rates. Men without jobs don't make very attractive mates," said Wessel.
He pointed out that a big portion of unemployed men are unskilled with lower levels of education, but said a better economy with higher wages being paid for low-skilled jobs could entice men to get off the couch.'
- Log in to post comments
Comments
Also...
... a guy's gotta *wanna* get married. He will only if he thinks it's in his interests to do so. Plenty of employed 40-something men aren't married, either. There are a number of factors, being employed or not just one of them.