A Study on Family Formation and Social Inequality

Abstract

Marriage decline and marriage delays are intensifying, with marriage delays concentrated among those with lower socioeconomic status. This study sought to understand the labor experiences of young men and women, the constraints they face, and how they affect their prospects for family formation. Labor market transitions in early adulthood are highly heterogeneous within generations, with a clear "family to market" shift in early adulthood for women, and fewer early entrants and more late entrants for both men and women. Both late entry into the labor market and entry into precarious jobs had a negative impact on marriage transition. We find that human capital investment and work experience during this period directly affect the prospect of family formation after age 30. Homogamy across social strata is taken for granted, suggesting that most marriages will take place within social class compartments. Men and women in the lower middle and stagnated working trajectories have the most negative marriage prospects. This is because they are "not financially prepared" or believe that they will lose opportunities for improving their job qualities after marriage. Men and women in the lower class do not expect to be supported by work-life balance programs, and the idea that having children will prevent women from working weighs heavily on both men and women. The value individuals place on marriage appears to vary by gender rather than class. Men place a high value on marriage and consistently pursue it, while women utilize a strategy of staggering their lifetimes and deferring the value of marriage for a period of time. However, these gender differences depend on considerations of the tangible and intangible disadvantages of marriage, so delaying marriage for both men and women can be understood as a strategic response to socioeconomic and gender disadvantage.