Since 2001 those in the top social class including Company Directors, University Lecturers and Accountants, have gone from being 24% more likely to be married to 50% more likely according to the Office for National Statistics. By the time they have children nine in ten of the wealthiest Britons are married. However, for those on the minimum wage or on benefits the figure is about half.
Christian Guy, Director of the Centre for Social Justice said “Marriage has become the preserve of the better off. That means we have much less stability throughout the population”.
“We have a benefits system which says not just don’t get married, but don’t bother getting together”.
“You are better off financially if you live apart. The cost of getting married is also putting people off having a wedding”.
He said that parents are now more likely to be co-habiting than married, which led to less stability and meant children in those relationships were less able to flourish.
Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator, which obtained the latest figures, said that half of British babies were now born to unmarried parents.
“A marriage gap that barely existed a generation or two ago has managed to double in the last decade with a minimum of public debate. Somehow marriage, with all the advantages that is confers, is becoming the preserve of the rich”, he writes.
The ONS divides workers into seven social categories. At the bottom comes “routine occupations” such as cleaners, builders and waiters. There is also an eighth category for the long-term unemployed.
