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Despite the impact of COVID-19, we are open and continuing to meet the needs of our existing clients and new clients without interruption or change in the quality of our services. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any concerns, questions or requests for information about your matter. At this time we are offering appointments via telephonic and/or video conferencing.
To help out during these trying times we are offering Free Consultations. Click here to Schedule a Consultation.

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Income, gender and divorce trends

May 4, 2019 | Divorce

Many people in New Jersey who get divorced or know someone who gets divorced may often wonder what type of factors contribute to a successful or a non-successful marriage. There may be no single, definitive answer to that but there are different surveys and research outcomes that provide some interesting insights about divorce trends.

As reported by MarketWatch, there is a body of information that suggests the earning capacity of each spouse in a traditional heterosexual marriage may contribute to the likelihood of a couple getting divorced or staying married. Data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that more than one in three wives earns more money than their husbands earn. This fact may not seem significant when it comes to the stability of a marriage but it just might well be very important.

In fact, some research suggests that a marriage in which the wife is the predominant breadwinner for the couple or family has a much higher chance of ending in divorce. Similarly, a dating couple in which the female out earns the male is less likely to get married to start with.

In couples where the husband does not hold a full-time job at all, the risk of divorce increases by 33% compared to marriages in which the man does work full-time, according to a Harvard University study. Data from the Cornell University Population Center has found that when married couples bring in relatively equivalent earnings, their marriage is likely to be more stable and to last.