California Center for Population Research

In light of recent changes in the labor force participation and socioeconomic standing of women, we ask whether a woman's position in the labor market has become more important over time as a determinant of her position in the marriage market. To test this hypothesis, we examine change over time in the association of wives' wages and husbands' socioeconomic standing, using data on first marriages among members of two cohorts from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience. Unlike much prior research on assortative mating, we take an individual-level approach to the analysis and rely on improved measures of labor market position, such as measuring wives' wages before marriage and considering various indicators of husbands' socioeconomic standing. Our findings do suggest some increase over time in the importance of economic prospects for assortative mating, with stronger evidence of change observed when husband's longer-term position in the labor market is considered.