Over 10 Million Men of Prime Working Age Are Unemployed in the US and Experts Think It’s Causing Declining Marriage Rates
I believe I’ve covered this story before too, if not in its own post, I know I mentioned it in passing in another one months ago.
Do you now what I find most moronic about this? The Southern Baptist solution to declining marriage rates is to scream at people: “MARRY YOUNG! MARRY EARLY! Marry before you turn 25!!!!”
Clearly, marriage is declining for several factors, not just that people are putting it off longer.
Another thing that bothers me about the “just marry early!!” simplistic advice from Al Mohler and other Southern Baptists is that the age at which one gets married is something one has little control over.
I did not get my first boyfriend until my late 20s (past the age of 25). How was I supposed to marry before age 25, as Southern Baptists advocate, when I did not even have a boyfriend at that point? I could not wave a magic wand and make one appear from thin air.
Christians definitely have this “Magical Marriage Fairy Tale” view. They assume that if you want marriage bad enough, then poof, Mr. Right will just happen to appear in your life (and already on one knee, with ring in hand), and when you want him to – like, if you are dying to marry before age 25, he’ll show up before then, they think.
Or, if you want to marry by the age of 30, Mr. Right, they think, will just happen to show up when you are 27 or 28.
I’ve discussed that Magical Marriage Fairy Tale before (Link): here. Just wanting something badly doesn’t mean it’s going to just happen.
Anyway, here is the story that guys are not getting married as much and probably due to the poor economy:
Excerpt:
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- BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CP REPORTER
February 7, 2014|12:48 pm
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.
Noting the acute and chronic nature of the unemployment situation among men, Wessel said it was a result of the slow recovery of the U.S. economy from the Great Recession as well as a shift away from the types of work popular among men before the recession. Even as the economy improves, however, he pointed out that employment troubles among men is likely to persist.
Related Posts:
(Link): America’s Lost Boys by S. D. James (Why Men Are Not Marrying)
(Link): The Millennial Caregiver – from WSJ
(some singles are staying single longer than they hoped or planned because they are caregivers for elderly family)
(Link): Woman’s First Marriage at Age 40+
(Link): First Time Marriage for Man and Woman Both Over Age 40
(Link): The Nauseating Push by Evangelicals for Early Marriage
Christian Pundit 