Delayer Boom: Census Figures Shed Light on Why Women Are Having Children Later in Life

Newswise — Kelly Musick is a professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University, and is a member of the Population Association of America and Cornell’s Population Program. She comments on figures released May 9, 2011, from the U.S. Census Bureau finding that women are having children later in life.

Musick says: “The Census Bureau reports a ‘delayer boom’ among college graduates, who are much more likely to postpone childbearing into their thirties, but then catch up to their counterparts with less education. Census tabulations shed some light on this pattern of delay.

“College graduates are much more likely to be married when giving birth and working full time within a year of giving birth -- suggesting that they are more likely to hold off on motherhood until getting established in a marriage and career. They have fewer children overall, and these children enjoy a relatively high level of resources stemming from the higher education, age, and employment of their parents.”

U.S. Census Bureau release:http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/fertility/cb11-83.html

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