Politics & Ideas: America Needs More Husband Material

 

 

„If a nation's well-being depends on the strength of its families, America is in trouble.

 

At any given time between 1950 through 1980, about 6% of 40-year-olds had never married. Then the never-married rate began an inexorable rise, quadrupling to 25% by 2020.

 

When I was in college in the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that the rise of feminism and antimarriage attitudes would undermine "family values" in the college-educated elite but marriage would remain strong among working-class Americans. The reverse happened: Marriage rates declined slightly among those with college degrees and plunged for those without them.

 

Patterns of college attendance have changed significantly in the past 50 years. In 1975, the share of men with college degrees was almost twice as large as the share of women. By the mid-1990s, the shares had converged. Today, 46% of 45-year-old women hold four-year degrees, compared with only 39% of men that age.

 

That gap continues to widen. Forty-four percent of American women 18 to 24 are enrolled in college or graduate school, compared with 34% of men. Fifty-seven percent of college undergraduates and 61% of those seeking advanced degrees are women.

 

These figures generate a puzzle: As the number of college-educated women exceeds that of college-educated men by a widening margin, one would predict a downward trend in marriage for these women. That hasn't happened.

 

Since the early 1990s, the percentage of 35-year-old women with bachelor's degrees who are married has remained steady at about 70%. The share of 35-year-old women without college degrees who are married has declined from 70% to 50%.

 

A new paper by economists Clara Chambers, Benjamin Goldman and Joseph Winkelmann resolves this apparent paradox. Faced with a shortage of college-educated men, college-educated women are increasingly likely to marry high-earning men without degrees. Over the past 50 years, the share of women 40 to 49 who are college-educated and married to non-college men has quadrupled, from 2.3% to nearly 10%.

 

They write that this shift, combined with tough times for working-class men overall, has "sharply reduced the pool of economically stable partners available to non-college women," undermining their marriage prospects.

 

 Because fertility in this cohort hasn't declined as quickly as marriage rates, "a growing share of children born to non-college mothers are being raised outside of married two-parent households."

 

America isn't facing a general marriage crisis but a working-class marriage crisis. We can continue to ignore it, as we have for a generation, or we can do something.

 

Working-class men with marketable skills and reliable work habits can do well in today's economy. Entry-level plumbers earn close to $50,000 annually, while master plumbers can make twice as much. Other skilled tradesmen -- electricians, auto mechanics, bricklayers -- also enjoy decent starting salaries and good prospects.

 

But there are skill shortages throughout our economy. Ford's CEO recently lamented his company's inability to fill 5,000 open positions for well-trained mechanics, despite annual salaries of up to $120,000.

 

Addressing these problems isn't rocket science. We need more high schools offering 21st-century skills training as well as standard college-preparatory tracks, more collaboration between businesses and community colleges to teach the skills that local economies need, and more apprenticeships to connect students to the world of work.

 

Higher education should also do its part. Men who start college are much more likely than women to stop short of degrees, often incurring debt without improving their economic prospects. Colleges should do more to monitor the progress of male students, persuade them not to drop out and stay connected with -- and offer a helping hand to -- those who leave but may want to return.

 

The military is another route to opportunity, but a 2023 study conducted by the Defense Department found that 77% of young Americans couldn't qualify for military service. Many were overweight or suffered from mental-health problems or drug abuse. An earlier study found that nearly 1 in 4 high-school graduates couldn't pass the Armed Forces Qualification Test, the military's basic test of education fitness to serve.

 

Here's an idea: At the beginning of their junior year, test high-school students against the military's physical, mental and educational standards to serve. For those who fail, offer remedial programs during their remaining time in school.

 

If we care about marriage rates among working-class Americans, we need to focus on increasing the number of men without college degrees who can offer young women what they're looking for in a husband.“ [1]

 

They are looking for money.

 

1. Politics & Ideas: America Needs More Husband Material. Galston, William A.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 24 Dec 2025: A13.