For Richer (Not For Poorer): The Inequality Crisis of Marriage$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')arriage, as a result, now offers fewer people a boost up the economic ladder. Stop and think what this means for the growing inequality in Americans' incomes over the next decade or more. If well-educated people with good jobs marry one another, they'll have a better shot at saving money and accumulating wealth. Less-educated, lower-income couples may stick together, but their lack of schooling means they're both more likely to struggle to find work, and they'll have sparser resources to fall back on if one of them loses a job.
Then consider the impact on the next generation. Well-educated, wealthy Americans will have more resources to spend on their children's education, health, and enrichment; low-income people can offer fewer opportunities to help their offspring get ahead.
"The big losers within the marriage data are children who are increasingly raised with fewer resources," said Michael Greenstone, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, which has published several studies on marriage. "If you want to get a little grandiose, it undermines the social fabric of the country that rests on the idea that everyone has an equal chance at success."