Break up? I can't afford it...

I often have rather random postulations that pop into my head over the course of the day; I believe they disproportionately come up either when I'm driving or am in the bathroom, so I'll spare you the contextualization.

Regardless, these ideas will probably be under-developed, but in the back of my mind I'm also hoping somebody in the future will take it a step further (or find someone who already has).

One particular one that I was wondering about this morning was whether divorce rates would drop this year in the face of higher unemployment stemming from the credit crisis and ensuing recession(s). I suppose this one is pretty straightforward. In the United States, 59% of women over the age of 16 are in the labor force, three quarters full time and the rest part time, comprising 46% of the total domestic labor force (Dept. of Labor). Now, I'm also going to fudge the 19% wage gap (2005) and just consider the 8% difference in women and men employment.

So, I'm going to say it's reasonable to assume that people take financial situations into consideration when deciding on whether to divorce. Sure, emotions and compatibility are one thing, but if you're financially dependent on your spouse as it is, then you don't want to screw yourself over with a breakup. With unemployment rates at 7% and growing, the job market's tough. As of last year, 57% of married couples were dual-earner (Dept of Labor). Which means, a good chunk of women who heretofore were stay-at-home moms and would like to live on more than a divorce settlement and also skim off child support face dim prospects at finding a job.

Women who already work but make less than their husbands (it's now $0.81 to the dollar) face similar situations than before the economic downturn, but they may also take job insecurity into consideration.

The effect in other countries that adhere to more "traditional" viewpoints of women's roles might be more pronounced; my eyes are on places like Italy, Spain, Korea, and Greece. At the end of the day, people will think about money when making these decisions, personal incompatibilities be damned.