Stopping marriage/divorce data collection isn't "quitting while we're ahead"; comments due today
December 30, 2014
Lawyer Beverly Willett of the Coalition for Divorce Reform offers a snapshot of the various current marriage and divorce trends that provide the context for the Census Bureau's upcoming decision on whether to keep asking about marriage, divorce and marital status in the "American Community Survey" (ACS), the current name of the "long form" sent to about 3.5 million households a year. ACS and similar data is used for most non-governemntal studies of marriage and divorce, and for very valuable analyses issued by the Census Bureau itself. As Willett reminds us, marriage is at an all-time low, divorce rates have recently been revealed to have been higher than anyone thought, and the current reduction in divorce rates is confined to a younger and well-educated demographic.
Today, Dec. 30, 2014, is the last day for public comment on the proposal.
Willett: "National marriage rates in nosedive"
[See also my Comments to Census Bureau on proposal to stop collecting marriage & divorce info]
[Update: It's nice to see our opinions confirmed, with much more understanding, context and background, by an eminent statistician and demographer, Justin Wolfers, in the New York Times! "Census Bureau’s Plan to Cut Marriage and Divorce Questions Has Academics Up in Arms" (12/31/14)]
Dear John;
Thank you for the call to arms. I sent my comments in moments ago. This information is too important to be excluded from future census questionnaires.
Posted by: Karen Robbins | December 30, 2014 at 12:17 PM