A study published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) indicates that the higher representation of women in higher education has changed marriage preferences. The research was conducted by investigators from Harvard, Yale, and Cornell universities.
In US four-year universities, the number of female students is approximately 1.6 million more than male students. This shift accompanies a change in the ratio of college-educated men to college-educated women in the US, which fell from 1.8 to 0.8 over the years.
Cornell University economist Benjamin Goldman stated that male college enrollment in the US stagnated decades ago, while female enrollment has continuously increased. Goldman noted that college-educated women remain the demographic group that marries at the highest rates in the US, adding, 'today, there aren't enough of these men around.'
Changing marriage rates and income levels
In the US, the marriage rate of non-college-educated women fell from 78.7% to 52.4%, while the marriage rate for college-educated women remains above 70%. Researchers predict that more than half of non-college-educated women born in the mid-1990s will have never married by the age of 45.
The increase in US housing costs since 1960.
American Enterprise Institute researcher Scott Winship stated that housing costs in the US have increased by 150% since 1960. Winship also stated that working-class men in the US now tend to work less and live at home because they remain single. In the US, 16% of high school graduate men in the same demographic group still live with their families due to economic difficulties.
Conflicting data on marriage demographics
There are conflicting reports regarding the proportion of non-college-educated individuals married to college-educated counterparts. One source attributes a rise from 2.3% in the 1930-born cohort to 9.6% in the 1980-born cohort to non-college-educated men married to college-educated women, while another source attributes this increase to non-college-educated women married to college-educated men.
Discrepancies also exist regarding male earning statistics. One source states the proportion of unmarried, non-college-educated men earning above the national average in the US fell from 72.9% to 35.3%. A second source frames this same statistic as the 'marriable' male pool for high school graduate women in the US.
