Graduate men bene it all groups o the U

The great recession that we continue to hit some areas harder than others, especially those employing many men. This speci icity rein orces the long trend o a progression o the place o women in the world o work. In the United States, or example, male employment has decreased three times more than women's employment. The American press thus recently announced that women were now almost hal o the jobs-47, about as rance also. The publication o a ascinating report rom the Pew Research Center o ers us the opportunity to question the links between education, employment and marriage (means by "marriage" a stable heterosexual partnership, which well more o ten takes the orm o a legal marriage in the United States in rance).

The study between two photographs o the American population in the range o 30-44 years old born in the United States, one taken in 1970 and another in 2007. In America in 1970, the marriage was the norm. More than 85 o Americans were married, regardless o their le el o education, with an exception or blacks. Husbands were much more o ten graduates 'bac 3' than their wi es: only 37 o men bac 3 married were a woman also bac 3, or the simple reason that the uni ersities produced signi icantly more graduates than graduates. In addition, married women worked less requently than their husbands. Those who were employed had a length o o ten lower labour and their wage rate was also lower. Relentless result: 96 o couples, the husband earned more money than his wi e.

In 2007, things ha e changed. Women work more and better paid than thirty years ago. or most couples, husbands earn more than their wi es. But 22 o couples is the woman who wins more: an exceptional situation became much more common. The authors o the study show that, in these couples, the woman has a weight in household inancial decision-making.

That graduate men is reassuring. I women more and more compete them on the labour market, they catch up on the market o the marriage. Since 15 years, more than hal o the degrees o "college" are attributed to women. As knows any good business, it is better to ind the "short" side o the market (the one that is in a position o strength). Bac 3 women were a rarity in 1970, is now the bac 3 men who bene it rom. 71 o those who are married are a bac 3 woman, roughly double the igure o 1970. In contrast, the percentage o bac 3 wi es whose spouse is also bac 3 was slightly down ( rom 70 to 64).

More generally, there are today in the United States more couples where the husband is less quali ied than women (28) than o couples where the traditional situation pre ails. Graduate men bene it: all groups o the U.S. population, are the bac 3 married men who ha e seen their purchasing power increase the most since 1970. They were able to reco er some o what they had to abandon women on the labour market! It is o course a "they" collecti e: men aged 30 to 44 in 2007 are not those between 30 and 44 years in 1970.

Un ortunately, the logic o supply and demand applies symmetrically. Non-Bachelor women su ered on the job market, as the entire little quali ied American population. And as the most likely partners ha e still su ered most, marital prospects o these women ha e also deteriorated. A substantial share o the inequality in the United States will increase thus passed not by the labour market, but by the marital ates o di erent social groups.