Marriage Still in Recession

The Pew Research Center released a new report detailing the continued decline of marriage in 2011.  Using data collected by the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Pew reported on the 4.2 million Americans who tied the knot in 2011.  This continues the downward trend in marriage that began when the ACS began asking about marital status in 2008.

Half (51%) of all adults were married in 2011, as compared with 72% in 1960.  This downward trend occurred among all age and education groups, with the largest drop occurring among the less-educated.  Between 2008 and 2011, marriage among Americans without a high school or equivalent education fell by 14%, while those with a college degree only fell 10%.

All-Time High in Student Debt

In a poll released recently by the Pew Research Center, it was found that almost one-in-five of all American households had student debt, an all-time high. Up four points since 2007 that golden time before the Great Recession, the student debt gave low-income families another reason to call it great; the greatest portion of the debt per household income fell on "the bottom fifth of the income spectrum," says author Richard Fry "...even though members of such households are less likely than those in other groups to attend college in the first place." Households making less than $21,044 a year shouldered 24% of the burden per household income, with the next highest fifth, the middle fifth ($36,724-$59,623)  sharing 12% of the burden per household income.

When one looks at head of household age and student debt, fully 40% of households with a head of household younger than 35 owe student debt. For all income groups considered, student debt rose and the the richest fifth saw their debt per household income nearly double since 2007. These record highs are in the wake of an ever-increasing average student debt reaching $26,682 in 2010, which has been on an almost linear climb since 1989.