Marriage Poverty - California

Marriage:California’s No. 1 Weapon

AgainstChildhood Poverty

How the Collapse of Marriage Hurts Childrenand Three Steps to Reverse the Damage

A Heritage Foundation Book of Charts • 2012

Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society

Growth of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in California, 1980–2010

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

heritage.orgChart 1 • Marriage and Poverty in California

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

40.5%

National

California

Sources: U.S. Government, U.S. Census Bureau, and National Center for Health Statistics.

In 2010, a record 40.5 percent of children in California were born outside marriage. By contrast, in 1980, 21 percent of children in the state were born outside marriage. The non-marital birth rate in the state has risen substantially over the last three decades.

California is unusual as it has no data on non-marital births before 1980. However, all states that do have data for the earlier period show rates which parallel the national trend displayed in the chart. In these states, the non-marital birth rates remained very low until the onset of the federal War on Poverty in the mid-1960s, and then began to rise steadily. The California unwed birth rate before 1979 very likely parallels the overall national trend.

In California, Marriage Drops the Probability of Child Poverty by 74 Percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2007–2009 data.


PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

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30%

35%

Single-Parent, Female-Headed

Families

Married, Two-Parent Families

32.5%

8.4%

The rapid rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing is a major cause of high levels of child pov-erty in California.

Some 32.5 percent of single mothers with children were poor compared to 8.4 percent of mar-ried couples with children.

Single-parent families with children are four times more likely to be poor than families in which the parents are married.

The higher poverty rate among single-mother families is due both to the lower education levels of the mothers and the lower income due to the absence of the father.

In California, One-Third of All Families with Children Are Not Married



68.4%

31.6%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Overall, married couples head about two-thirds of families with children in California. One-third are single-parent families.

In California, 61 Percent of Poor Families with Children Are Not Married



39.0%

61.0%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Among poor families with children in California, about six in ten are not married. By contrast, only 39 percent of poor families with children are headed by married couples.

In California, Few Unwed Births Occur to Teenagers

Out-of-wedlock births are often confused erroneously with teen births, but only 7.4 percent of out-of-wedlock births in Califor-nia occur to girls under age 18.

By contrast, some 70 percent of out-of-wedlock births occur to young adult women between the ages of 18 and 29.

Note: Figures have been rounded.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008 NHS data.


PERCENTAGE OF OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS BY AGE OF MOTHER

Age18–19:12.8%

Age20–24:33.3%

Age25–29:23.9%

Age30–54:22.6%

UnderAge 18:7.4%

Less-Educated Women Are More Likely to Give Birth Outside of Marriage


PERCENTAGE OF BIRTHS THAT ARE MARITAL OR OUT OF WEDLOCK

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60%

70%

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High School Dropout

(0–11Years)

High School Graduate

(12Years)

SomeCollege(13–15Years)

College Graduate

(16+Years)

61.0%

50.9%

36.6%

7.7%

39.0%

49.1%

63.4%

92.3 %

Mother’s education level

Unmarried Mothers

Married Mothers

Unwed childbearing occurs most frequently among the women who will have the greatest difficulty supporting children by themselves: those with low levels of education.

In California, among women who are high school dropouts, about 61 percent of all births occur outside marriage. Among women who have only a high school diploma, about half of all births occur outside marriage. By contrast, among women with at least a college degree, only 7.7 percent of births are out of wed-lock.


Both Marriage and Education Are Highly Effective in Reducing Child Poverty in California



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High School Dropout

High School Graduate

SomeCollege

College Graduate

50.7%

23.4%

33.6%

10.3%

23.3%

4.7%9.7%

2.1%

Note: Virtually none of the heads of families in the chart who are high school dropouts are minor teenagers.

The poverty rate of married couples with children is dramati-cally lower than the rate for house-holds headed by single parents. This is true even when the married couple is compared to single par-ents with the same education level.

For example, in California, the poverty rate for a single mother who has only a high school diploma is 33.6 percent, but the poverty rate for a married couple family headed by an individual who, similarly, has only a high school degree is far lower at 10.3 percent.

On average, marriage drops the poverty rate by around 70 percent among families with the same education level.

PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

Poverty Rate of Families by Education and Marital Status of the Head of Household

Single Married

Unwed Birth Rates Vary Strongly by Race in California



PERCENT OF BIRTHS THAT ARE OUT OF WEDLOCK

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80%

All Races White Non-

Hispanic

Hispanic BlackNon-

Hispanic

40.2%

24.1%

51.6%

68.0%

Out-of-wedlock childbearing varies considerably by race.

In 2008 (the most recent year for which racial breakdown is available), over four in ten births (40.2 percent) in California occurred outside marriage.

The rate was lowest among white non-Hispanics. Among that group about one in four births were non-marital.

Among Hispanics, about half of births were to unmarried women. Among black non-Hispanics, about seven in ten births (68 percent) were out-of-wedlock.

Racial Composition of All Births and Out-of-Wedlock Births in California

ALL BIRTHS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS



Note: Figures have been rounded.

52.1%

White Non-Hispanic

American Indian/Other

Black Non-Hispanic

Hispanic

27.5%

12.6%

5.8%

67.0%

16.5%

4.8%

9.8%1.9%2.0%

Asian/Pacific Islander

In California in 2008, some 52.1 percent of all births occurred to Hispanics, 27.5 percent occurred to white non-Hispanics, 12.6 percent occurred to Asians, and 5.8 percent occurred to black non-Hispanic women.

Because blacks and Hispanics are more likely to have children without being married, they account for disproportionately larger shares of all out-of-wedlock births.

In California in 2008, 67 percent of all non-marital births were to Hispanics, 16.5 percent were to non-Hispanic white women, and 9.8 percent were to black non-Hispanic women. Only 4.8 percent of unmarried births occurred to Asian women.

Non-Married White Families Are Six Times More Likely to Be Poor in California

Marriage leads to lower poverty rates for whites, blacks, and His-panics.

For example, in 2009, the pov-erty rate for married white families in California was 2.6 percent. But the poverty rate for non-married white families was six times higher at 15.6 percent.



PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE POOR

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16%

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Married Families Non-Married Families

2.6%

15.6%

Non-Married Hispanic Families Are Three Times More Likely to Be Poor in California

In 2009, the poverty rate for Hispanic married families in Cali-fornia was 12 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was nearly three times higher at 33 percent.




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12.0%

33.0%

Non-Married Black Families Are Five Times More Likely to Be Poor in California

In 2009, the poverty rate for married black couples in Califor-nia was 5.4 percent, while the poverty rate for non-married black families was five times higher at 28.5 percent.




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5.4%

28.5%

Three Steps to Reduce Child Poverty through Marriage

1) Provide information on the benefits of marriage in reducing child poverty and improving child well-being.

2) Reduce anti-marriage penalties in means-tested welfare programs.

3) Promote life-goal-planning, marriage-strengthening, and divorce-reduction programs to increase healthy marriages and reduce divorce and separation.

Marriage is a highly effective institution which greatly decreases parental and child poverty while improving long-term outcomes for children. Conversely, the absence of marriage greatly increases welfare costs and imposes added burdens on taxpayers.

Unfortunately, almost no information on these topics is available in low-income communities. This information deficit should be corrected in the following manner:

• Explain the benefits of marriage in middle and high schools with a high proportion of at-risk youth;

• Create public education campaigns in low-income communities on the benefits of marriage; and,

• Require federally funded birth control clinics to provide information on the benefits of marriage and the skills needed to develop stable families to interested low-income clients.

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