Research conducted by Gallup from January to September 2013 tracking 130,000 adults reveals that married Americans tend to have an above-average income, which leads to more spending which, in turn, stimulates the economy.
In fact, married Americans spend more than those in any other marital status category across age groups. Americans who have never married spend significantly less, particularly those younger than 50.
The study suggests that, if marriage rates increase, overall spending in the United States may increase.
Interestingly, W. Bradford Wilcox, director of The National Marriage Project, has been studying the impact of marriage on financial stability.
"The Add Health dataset for the Home Economics Project, a new joint initiative between the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, indicates that adolescents raised in intact, married homes are significantly more likely to succeed educationally and financially," Wilcox says in an article written for The Atlantic Monthly. "Young adults who were raised in a home by their married parents are 44 percent more likely to graduate from college. People who graduate from college have better job prospects, tend to make more than minimum wage and are less likely to be unemployed.
"The benefits are greatest for less-privileged homes, that is, where their mother did not have a college degree. Young people from less-privileged homes with married parents are more likely to graduate from college and earn about $4,000 more than their peers from non-intact families."
Men and women who come from intact families are about 40 percent less likely to have a child out of wedlock, Wilcox says. This is significant because research from numerous groups, including Brookings Institution and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies, indicates that having a child out of wedlock decreases your chances of marrying.
If young people follow the success sequence: Complete high school (at a minimum), work full-time and marry before having children, the chances of being poor fall from 12 to 2 percent, and the chances of joining the middle class or above rise from 56 to 74 percent (middle class is defined as having an income of at least $50,000 a year for a family of three).
This information is not new. There are countless pieces of research showing the financial benefits linked to healthy marriage for adults and their children, including "Why Marriage Matters: 26 Conclusions from the Social Sciences to the Case for Marriage." What is new is the influence married people have on the economy. Married people have more expendable income and therefore are able to buy more, thus impacting our country's economy in a positive way.
Despite the fact that the U.S. marriage rate is decreasing and people appear to be more skeptical than ever about the prospect of marriage, there is some pretty convincing evidence that its financial benefits impact more than just the couple. The Gallup research, along with other studies, indicates that no other living arrangement offers these benefits to the same degree as marriage. The ripple effect of healthy marriage affects the economy and so much more.
Perhaps all of us would benefit from learning how to do marriage well.
Julie Baumgardner is president and CEO of First Things First. Contact her at julieb@firstthings.org.