A Tale of Two Narratives

How’s the American family?  Time to write the obituary yet?  According to a recent Brookings Institution report, writes Maggie Gallagher, not too bad.

Two-thirds of us who were children in the late-1960s have grown up to earn more (adjusted for inflation) than our own parents did at the same age. By 2006 the median family income of the adults in this study was $71,900, up 29 percent compared to the median income of their parents in 1968.

The report, “Economic Mobility of Black and White Families,” by Julia B. Isaacs, does point up some major societal problems, of course.  These studies always do.

I know what you are thinking:  “World Ends, women and minorities hardest hit.”  Good try.

In fact the story of the last generation is that the income of white women has soared, and the income of black women has increased substantially. 

The story on the male side is not so good.  White male income has stagnated, and black male income has gone down.  I’m not sure how you reduce that to a sound bite.

If you read the executive summary of Isaac’s report over at Brookings, you find the usual de-familied jargon, except for this:

The lack of income growth for black men combined with low marriage rates in the black population has had a negative impact on trends in family income for black families.

But more research is needed to get better longitudinal information of minority families.

In Gallagher’s review of the study, things are not quite so soothing.  She is, after all, a marriage advocate.

For her, one thing comes out starkly: the collapse of the black family.  With 25 percent of white children born outside of wedlock you can say we have a problem.  With 70 percent of black children born outside of wedlock...  Well, what would you expect?

Obviously, you will say, in that environment, we should expect severe problems in the black male community.

Here’s how the data come out.

Race/Gender 1974 Median Income 2004 Median Income Change White Women $4,021 $22,030 +448% Black Women $12,065 $21,000 +74% White Men $41,885 $40,081 -4% Black Men $29,085 $25,600 -12%

Not too pretty, is it?  What has happened over the last generation is that white women have come out of the unpaid sector into the paid sector and they have elbowed everyone else aside, white men most notably and black men most particularly.

The fact is that when men are not harnessed into the role of husband and provider they go down rather quickly.  They work less, they live less healthy lives, and they don’t contribute much to society.

You could look it up.