Single men ‘significantly’ poorer amid collapse in marriage rates
Single young men earn £5,000 less each year than those in a stable relationship, research has found, as Britain suffers a collapse in marriage rates.
Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found that an average 16 to 24-year-old man was “significantly better off” if he was married, cohabiting or in a relationship.
It comes after research by the think tank revealed that the gender pay gap has reversed, with the wages of young women now consistently being paid more than young men for the first time.
The CSJ noted that married men were bucking this trend, with the average married young man in full-time work earning £27,117 in 2022-23. This compares with the average single young man earning £22,297.
However, the think tank warned the “marriage premium” was being enjoyed by a rapidly declining number of young men.
Official data show that in the past 50 years, the number of men aged between 16 and 24 marrying each year has collapsed from almost a quarter of a million in 1971 to just 8,000 in 2022.
Overall marriage rates have also declined over the same period. Previous CSJ research has called on policymakers to examine how Britain’s wealth gap has been exacerbated by family breakdown.
Lord King, a former Bank of England governor, has also warned that adolescents are less financially secure than baby boomers because the UK has developed the “least stable family structure in Europe”.
He said a rise in family breakdowns and a lack of job opportunities has harmed both young people and wider society.
Trushar Pandya at the CSJ, said: “Marriage and partnership have a clear positive impact on young men. Previous CSJ research has consistently shown the mental and social benefits of marriage and stable relationships, now we can see the financial benefit as well.
“The Government should be doing all it can to promote healthy relationships like marriage as both a social and an economic good.”
A report published by the think tank this month warned that lockdown had sparked a reversal of a gender pay gap that has persisted for decades. In 2020-21, the average young man earned £24,032 and the average young woman £23,021.
Earnings among men have virtually stagnated since, meaning that by 2022-23, the average young man earned £24,283 and the average young woman £26,476, representing a gap of almost 10pc.
Previous research has shown a clear link between having a partner and higher earnings, with the CSJ also noting that married, partnered or cohabiting young men consistently earn thousands of pounds more than their single counterparts.
Previous analysis suggests a strong link between higher earnings and marriage among men.
However, a study by the US Federal Reserve more than two decades ago attributed the link to “selection hypothesis”, adding that men with higher wages were more likely to get married and stay married because they also tended to have the qualities that make them good workers.
That same study also found that divorced men earned more on average than those who have never been married.
Lord King has cited research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that shows more than one in five British families are now headed by a single parent, compared with an EU average of 13pc.
The IFS study showed 44pc of children born at the turn of the millennium will not have lived with both biological parents throughout their childhoods, compared with 21pc for children born in 1970.
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