Why Do Some Professions Have a Higher Divorce Rate?
Statistician Nathan Yau recently looked at data from the 2015 Census Bureau’s 5-year American Communities Survey and calculated which occupations have the highest and lowest divorce rates . Do you want a stable marriage? Marry an actuary – an industry with a divorce rate of 17%. However, game managers and bartenders have a less impressive track record in married life – almost 53% and 52%, respectively.
Now you might think that bartenders are flirtatious, sociable people, and actuaries … may not be, so that’s understandable. But the Institute for Family Research has taken a close look at the data and offers several considerations on this topic. (First, why are phlebotomists more stable, in a maritime language, than librarians?)
These researchers, Naomi Kahn and June Carbone, wanted to test whether this data was consistent with what we already know about marriage and marital stability, namely that people with low incomes are less likely to marry, remain married, or report high level of satisfaction with marriage. … A happy, lasting marriage is all that wealthy people need.
Kahn and Carbone studied the minimum educational attainment and median income for the 10 jobs most likely and least likely to divorce, and found that the jobs most likely to divorce do not require more than a high school diploma (bartenders, gambling ). managers, flight attendants, etc.). All 10 professions that are least likely to get divorced (scientists, engineers, doctors, clergy) require at least a bachelor’s degree. The most frequently divorced professions had an average income of less than $ 35,000; the least prone to divorce (excluding the clergy) had an income of at least $ 75,000. Also interesting: job prospects for the professions most likely to divorce are generally expected to deteriorate, while job prospects for those least likely to divorce are expected to rise.
So this is a story about a class. The authors duly note that correlation is not causation; There is not necessarily something in the bartending profession that makes people get divorced. But they raise an important topic for further research – why relationship stability and job prospects seem to go hand in hand – and continue to suggest that income insecurity may have more to do with family insecurity than low income.
They write, “Committing to a partner with an unstable income — someone who’s increasing credit card bills, has high health care costs, or needs to be released from prison — can reduce family savings. The commitment that marriage entails requires a willingness – legally, financially and emotionally – to share the couple’s shared resources. For couples in financial insecurity, such a commitment can be a source of danger. “