Divorce Income Changes

Both The Observer and The Independent report new research, Marital splits and income changes over the longer term, carried out by Professor Stephen Jenkins, a director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and chair of the Council of the International Association for Research on Income and Wealth today. Stephen Jenkins combined data from 14 different British Household Panel Surveys over 1991 to 2004 with the findings from five European surveys.

The study confirmed previous research that there are large falls in income in the year after a marital split for separating women and children, but not for separating men. Over a six year period 1998–2004 after splitting the immediate large fall incomes for separating wives did recover but not to their previous levels. Women who did not have a job in any of the five years after a marital split, or who did not find a new partner fared the worse. Stephen Jenkins pointed out the differences were not influenced so much a gender but more to do with the parenting differences of fathers and mothers.