Consistent with the rise in pre-nuptial agreements with the economy faltering, the marriage rate is down.
The New York Times is reporting that:
A long-term decline in marriage accelerated during the severe recession, according to new data from the Census Bureau, with more couples postponing marriage and often choosing to cohabit without tying the knot.
According to the federal data, the share of young adults who have never married climbed from 35 percent at the start of the decade to 46 percent in 2009. While the rate of marriage is down, it appears more people are cohabiting.
Why cohabitation instead of marriage? I suppose cohabitation allows couples to enjoy the social, economic and other benefits of marriage, without the associated costs. As one interviewee expressed, “Yeah, it definitely takes money to get married . . . being married probably means eventually buying a house and having kids, right?”