Single Americans Now Compose More Than Half the U.S. Population

[Poitier]

Single Americans Now Compose More Than Half the U.S. Population
By Rich Miller Sep 9, 2014 12:01 AM ET

Photographer: Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Men excercise in Tompkin Square Park on Sept. 2, 2014 in New York City.

Single Americans make up more than half of the adult population for the first time since the government began compiling such statistics in 1976.

Some 124.6 million Americans were single in August, 50.2 percent of those who were 16 years or older, according to data used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly job-market report. That percentage had been hovering just below 50 percent since about the beginning of 2013 before edging above it in July and August. In 1976, it was 37.4 percent and has been trending upward since.

In a report to clients entitled “Selfies,” economistEdward Yardeni flagged the increase in the proportion of singles to more than 50 percent, calling it “remarkable.” The president of Yardeni Research Inc. in New York said the rise has “implications for our economy, society and politics.”

Singles, particularly younger ones, are more likely to rent than to own their dwellings. Never-married young singles are less likely to have children and previously married older ones, many of whom have adult children, are unlikely to have young kids, Yardeni wrote. That will influence how much money they spend and what they buy.

He argued the increase in single-person households also is exaggerating income inequality in the U.S.

“While they have less household earnings than married people, they also have fewer expenses, especially if there are no children in their households,” Yardeni wrote.

The percentage of adult Americans who have never married has risen to 30.4 percent from 22.1 percent in 1976, while the proportion that are divorced, separated or widowed increased to 19.8 percent from 15.3 percent, according to the economist.

Yardeni is known in the financial markets for coining the phrase “bond vigilantes” in the 1980s to describe investors who were selling Treasury securities because of fears about big U.S. budget deficits.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rich Miller in Washington at rmiller28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net Gail DeGeorge, Melinda Grenier

The family unit is the foundation for any civilization

 

[LA Fisher]

 

[Yuzo]

i was going to touch on it but the article already highlighted the major point that this dramatically alters spending habits all throughout the economy. its well documented that single people relative to people in families spend next to nothing. so if this continues, which is fair to predict, theres going to be massive changes in everything from movie attendance to home ownership etc

 

[Kitsune]

Good, hopefully radical feminism, hyper consumerism and sexual deviancy will be promoted even further around these parts, europe included, to hopefully expedite the collapse of the western world

 

[Mr. Somebody]

58 percent of women over 16 are part of the labor force.

Divorce asset reallocation should be drastically reformed since women are now able to support themselves, if they are single.

Discouraging marriage is a way to discourage family which is a way to morally bankrupt an entire generation of children.

 

[acri1]

It is what it is, with modernity comes more single people, fewer marriages, and fewer kids. There's less incentive to get married, more incentive not to get married, and less incentive to have kids (especially young). Considering that there are 7 billion+ people on the planet I'm not too concerned.

Gotta admit I do get tired of the "I was married and had kids/a house/whatever when I was your age" that I always get from old heads tho.

 

[Truth200]

It is what it is, with modernity comes more single people, fewer marriages, and fewer kids. There's less incentive to get married, more incentive not to get married, and less incentive to have kids (especially young). Considering that there are 7 billion+ people on the planet I'm not too concerned.

Gotta admit I do get tired of the "I was married and had kids/a house/whatever when I was your age" that I always get from old heads tho.

Well said...

 

[Matt504]

the jig is up

 

[Poitier]

It is what it is, with modernity comes more single people, fewer marriages, and fewer kids. There's less incentive to get married, more incentive not to get married, and less incentive to have kids (especially young).

It leads to stagnation.

 

[blackzeus]

the jig is up

 

[NZA]

modern western life is hard on young families. if it werent for welfare, a lot of the american population would not have even been conceived. increasing reductions in social benefits means fewer kids, ultimately.

 

[Xtraz2]

we don't need to have kids anymore, it's primitive, in a few hundred years we'll be immortal anyways

@ tha lucky generation that never has to die

 

[Richard Wright]

we don't need to have kids anymore, it's primitive, in a few hundred years we'll be immortal anyways

@ tha lucky generation that never has to die

 

[Xtraz2]

They should have an IQ test before try allow you into higher learning

a lotta y'all dumb nikkaz wouldn't make it