Thanks for nothing: changes in income and labor force participation for never-married mothers since 1982

This study examines whether the changing social and economic characteristics of women who give birth out of wedlock have led to higher family incomes. Using Current Population Survey data collected between 1982 and 2002, we find that never-married mothers remain poor. They have made modest economic gains, but these have disproportionately occurred at the top of the income distribution. Yet there is no evidence of a burgeoning class of "Murphy Browns," middle-class professional women who give birth out of wedlock. Surprisingly, never-married mothers' incomes have stagnated in spite of impressive gains in education and other personal and vocational characteristics that should have resulted in greater economic progress than has been the case. These gains cast doubt on various stereotypes about women who give birth out of wedlock.