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Daily Archives: February 4, 2012

The Marriage Gap: The Impact of Economic and Technological Change on Marriage Rates

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Brookings: The Marriage Gap: The Impact of Economic and Technological Change on Marriage Rates, Michael Greenstone, Director, The Hamilton Project, and Senior Fellow, Economic Studies; Adam Looney, Policy Director, The Hamilton Project, and Senior Fellow, Economic Studies

  • “Today’s employment report provided hopeful signals that momentum is continuing to develop in the labor market. The unemployment rate continued to edge down and expansions in employer payrolls continued to grow. Although still too high, the unemployment rate ticked down from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent in January. Employer payrolls increased by 243,000 jobs in January—and an average of 201,000 jobs over the last three months—with the private sector again leading the way with 257,000 additional jobs…Fewer Americans are married today than at any point in at least 50 years. The causes of this trend and the consequences for Americans’ well-being are naturally the subject of much debate. Charles Murray’s new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, argues that the decline in marriage, and the concurrent decline in work, is the product of changes in values or social norms that have eroded both industriousness and marital values.”

    • WSJ Infographic on Historical U.S. Unemployment

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    Historical U.S. Unemployment: “Whenever the unemployment rate drops, economically savvy observers know to ask a key question: What happened to the employment-population ratio? Under the government’s definitions, people only count as unemployed when they’re actively looking for work. So when the unemployment rate drops, it could mean that unemployed people found jobs, or it could… Continue Reading