›› South Carolina Young Adults Count State Report

Family Appendix C: Economic Impact of Marriage

Although the overall fraction of young women who obtained annual earnings above the four person poverty line in 1995 was below that of men (30 percent for women and 44 percent for men), [there have developed] a number of key trends with important implications for future family formation and family economic well-being. First, in 1995, the fraction of young Black women who obtained annual earnings above the four-person poverty line (25 percent) was quite close to the fraction of young Black men who were able to do so (32 percent). The near parity in the share of young adult Black women and men who were able to earn enough to raise a family out of poverty raises questions as to the viability of the economic role of the young Black male in family formation. If one takes the ability to achieve earnings high enough...to raise a family of four out of poverty as an indicator of 'marriage-ability', akin William [Julius] Wilson's notion of a marriageable 'pool' of young men, then it is clear that only one-third of all young Black men in 1995 would be viewed as marriageable by young Black women. Second, the declining fractions of young men with no post-secondary schooling who were able to achieve our minimum earnings threshold suggest that the rising age at first marriage is partly attributable to the declining economic fortunes of young men. Third, the deterioration in the earnings capacity of young men with no post-secondary schooling has placed a growing fraction of even young married couple families at risk of poverty, especially when children are present in the home.

(Sum et al., 1997, pp. 98-99)

The Economics Section presented the serious financial plight of economically stressed young adults: those under age 25, the less educated, minorities, and women with children. Sum and Fogg emphasize the significant decline in the economic status of young families, a decline that has resulted in many of these families seeking external financial assistance:

The steep drop in the real annual earnings of young men with no post-secondary schooling has contributed in a substantive way to their lower marriage rates. The higher the annual earnings of young men, the greater the likelihood that they are married and living with their spouses. The reductions in the real annual earnings of young men with no post-secondary schooling have accounted for between 25% and 30% of the decline in their marriage rates over the past two decades. These relationships hold true for high school dropouts as well as high school graduates and for White males as well as Black males...the declines in the real earnings of young men with no post-secondary schooling and the reduced propensity for young men to marry even when they have become fathers have had disastrous consequences for the economic well-being of young families and the fate of children residing in those families. The real median income of all young families (with a householder under 30 years of age) with one or more own children declined by 34% between 1973 and 1992, and the poverty rate among children in young families more than doubled over the same time period, rising to 42% in 1992.

(Sum and Fogg, 1996, pp. 56-57)

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