Moving the Needle by Katherine S. Newman

Author:Katherine S. Newman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520379107
Publisher: University of California Press

THE NEW FATHERHOOD

Marriage is not part of the social equation for many households in Roxbury Crossing and Franklin. But fatherhood is, as it is all over the United States. Nationwide, the share of fathers who stay home full-time with children under age eighteen increased from 4 percent in 1989 to 7 percent in 2016, and fathers made up 17 percent of all stay-at-home parents in 2016 compared with 10 percent in 1989.44 Nearly a quarter of stay-at-home fathers in 2016 reported that they were at home specifically to take care of children full-time, up from just 4 percent in 1989.45 Fathers are now just as likely as mothers to say that parenting is extremely important to their identity, and—perhaps surprisingly—dads are more likely than moms to report that parenting is both rewarding and enjoyable.46

The disadvantages that accrue to children who grow up living with a single parent (typically mothers) stem from both economic deprivation and from the stress associated with the experience of family disruption.47 When jobs are more plentiful, however, these pressures are moderated— in part because noncustodial parents (typically fathers) are better able to provide financial support to their children when their wages increase.

Child support payments serve as one key indicator of noncustodial parents’ ability to contribute economically to their children’s households.48 When a parent lives with a child, they automatically share their income with that child. But when children live apart from a parent, that noncustodial parent’s financial obligations to the child become less clear. Court-ordered child support is designed to serve as a key mechanism for protecting children against the financial consequences of growing up in a single-parent household.49

When we conduct a simple analysis comparing the ratio of child support paid to child support owed, we find the expected inverse relationship with tight labor markets—but only when labor markets are very tight. Child support paid as a share of child support owed increases when the unemployment rates is at or below 5 percent, but it does not reach levels of statistical significance until unemployment rates are at or below 4 percent. In very tight labor markets, defined as those where unemployment rates are at or below 4 percent, noncustodial parents are better able to fulfill their child support obligations.50

Specifically, when unemployment rates are at or below 4 percent, households with children receive 16.5 percent more of the child support that they’re owed. To illustrate this effect, take 2018—the most recent year for which we have data. The average child support payment was $5,518.76, and the average family received about 86 percent of the amount they were owed. But “average” can obscure important differences, and our analysis shows substantial variation between areas with tight labor markets (unemployment at or below 4 percent) and areas with labor market that were not so tight. In tight labor markets, families received an average of 94 percent of the child support they were owed. In areas where unemployment rates were above 4 percent, the amount received as was 82.5 percent. That support gap adds up to a 12 percentage point difference correlated with very tight labor markets.

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