The Two-Income Trap - Elizabeth Warren [58]
For every increase in the paycheck of a single mother, there is now a corresponding increase in a married couple’s income as well. As a growing number of married mothers enter the workforce, the income gap between single and married parents is growing, notwithstanding rising wages for single mothers. In the mid-1970s, a typical married couple with children earned $29,800 (inflation adjusted) more than the average single mother; today that gap is more than $41,000.31 No matter how hard she works, how many extra hours she puts in or training sessions she attends, the modern single mother will never catch up.
The irony is palpable. Lured by the promise of financial security for themselves and their children, millions of women marched into the workforce. And yet, if their husbands leave, they discover that despite their growing paychecks, they are in no position to compete in a two-income world. Moreover, the postdivorce woman must deal with the fact that she and her ex had built a middle-class life that depended on two incomes, and now she must cope without that second paycheck. By all predictions, the middle-class single mother should be better off than her counterpart of any generation before her. Yet despite her education, her work experience, and the support of the courts, the modern single mother is more likely to face financial failure than ever before.
The Facts of Marriage
Some women take an alternate path to survive the economic blows raining down on their families: They remarry. Sure, we know that marriage—even second marriage—is supposed to be about chemistry and companionship, but getting a foreclosure notice can make anyone rethink what she really needs from a relationship. Even now, a generation after the Women’s Revolution, the surest way for a woman to regain her financial footing after a divorce is to find a husband—and to do it quickly.32 Like many single mothers, Gayle dreams about a quick way out of her economic hole: “If I was to get married again, and he only had a part-time salary, I could make it.” In a world of economic hurt, even a guy with half a job looks good.
What about the mother who was never married to begin with? The majority of single mothers in bankruptcy are divorced or separated, but there are some who never had a husband.33 Divorced women got into trouble when they lost one of the incomes they were counting on. But how did mothers who never married end up in trouble? For some, the answer is pretty much the same as for their divorced sisters: A man moved out. Although they weren’t legally married, many were in long-term relationships. When the couple broke up, these women went through an economic—if not a legal—divorce, and they were sent into the same kind of economic tailspin as their previously married sisters.34 Other unmarried mothers never had a partner to begin with, but they learned that with only one adult in the household, even a short period of unemployment or a medium-sized medical bill could send them from survival to collapse in a few months.
Out of the Trap: Make Dad Pay More?
After the Pritchards split up, Brad rented an efficiency apartment on the north side of Houston, near his new job. His girlfriend moved in, but she drifted off just a few months later. It seems that Brad was not much fun any more.
Brad landed a job as an assistant supervisor at an oil refinery, earning $27,000 a year. “I guess the money’s not that bad. It’s just they take so much out of my check. Seems like all I get are the leftovers.” Between his payments to his first wife and to Gayle and the kids, his employer withholds almost $1,200 a month. This means that 60 percent of Brad’s take-home pay goes to child support—the legal limit.35
Technically, Brad lives above the poverty line,