Rising income inequality, and the resulting scarcity of certain types of jobs, is a key reason a growing number of young Americans are having babies before getting married. A study from Johns Hopkins University is the first to trace how the income gap, a large-scale societal trend, affects individual personal choices about starting a family. The greater the income inequality in an area, the less likely young men and women are to marry before having a first child, according to the study, which is published online today and will appear in the August issue of the American Sociological Review. Authors found that areas with high levels of income inequality have a shortage of jobs available in the middle of the job market. These are jobs available to those without college degrees that pay wages that would keep a family out of poverty—like positions for office clerks, factory workers, and security guards. Without access to this sort of work, young men can't make an adequate living. They don't see themselves as good marriage material, and their partners agree. Couples like this might live together and have a child, but they are reluctant to make the long-term commitment to marriage. http://hub.jhu.edu/2016/07/14/marriage-children-income-inequality/
Sounds like that has some issues with cause and effect. Could it be, for example, that people who are incapable of figuring out how to use birth control tend to have kids sooner, and also tend to not be able to rise very high in income? (And indeed then find it even more difficult to rise in income with an unexpected dependent?)
