WEBVTT - Both Marriages and Divorces are Down During the Pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>It's Friday, January eight. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is Reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>The pandemic has taken a toll on relationships in many ways,

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<v Speaker 1>but interestingly, both marriages and divorces are down. Many had

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<v Speaker 1>to cancel the postponed weddings due to lockdowns, and on

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<v Speaker 1>the other side, some are avoiding divorce for practical reasons

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<v Speaker 1>and economic uncertainty. Then Steve Man, reporter at Bloomberg News

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<v Speaker 1>joins us for why these rates may be falling and

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<v Speaker 1>whether they might tick back up after the pandemic is over.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Ben, sure thing. I wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>take a look back at what's been going on throughout

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<v Speaker 1>this pandemic with regards to relationships, divorces, and marriages specifically.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, when the pandemic started, we heard a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of things that we're gonna happen with relationships. One of

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<v Speaker 1>the first things I remember hearing was that there was

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<v Speaker 1>gonna be a huge baby boom. Well that didn't really happen.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, in the first part of the pandemic, we're

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<v Speaker 1>hearing about a lot of you know, possible fights in

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<v Speaker 1>marriages that we're gonna lead to a lot of divorces.

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<v Speaker 1>That didn't really happen either. According to some of the

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<v Speaker 1>new data that we're getting, divorces and marriages both kind

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<v Speaker 1>of trickled down a little bit. So then tell us

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<v Speaker 1>some of the numbers and what we're seeing here. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>so we don't have the full numbers for the entire

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<v Speaker 1>United States, but what we do have is a study

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<v Speaker 1>that just came out that looks at five states, including

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<v Speaker 1>one big one, Florida. It just looks at a few

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<v Speaker 1>months of the year, most of the year and says,

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<v Speaker 1>how does this compare to what we expected? And it

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<v Speaker 1>turns out that marriages and divorces are way below previous

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<v Speaker 1>year's trends. Marriages, maybe that's not surprising. A lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people postponed their weddings for obvious reasons last year. But

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<v Speaker 1>with divorces, there was this idea that quarantine was putting

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of stress on relationships. But so far, we're

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<v Speaker 1>finding that, you know, we're not seeing the filings come through.

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<v Speaker 1>In Florida, which is again the largest state that people

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<v Speaker 1>looked at, marriages are thirty three percent lower than expected,

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<v Speaker 1>and divorces are twenty eight percent lower. If you extrapolate

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<v Speaker 1>the numbers that we're seeing in these five states nationwide,

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<v Speaker 1>you're talking about more than three hundred thousand marriages that

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<v Speaker 1>probably would have happened but didn't and almost two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>thousand divorces that basically were either postponed or aren't materializing

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<v Speaker 1>this year. Yeah, this is a study that was coming

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<v Speaker 1>out of Bowling Green State University. The five states that

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<v Speaker 1>they looked at, as you mentioned, Florida, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri,

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<v Speaker 1>and Oregon, so they all saw these numbers dropped. I

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<v Speaker 1>think Arizona was maybe an outlier and some of the

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<v Speaker 1>numbers there, But you know, you kind of mentioned a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit of you know, one of the big reasons why.

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<v Speaker 1>So a lot of things were postponed. Maybe there was

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of closures government wide, government offices, so it

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<v Speaker 1>was maybe harder obviously to even get those marriage plans going,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know, you couldn't organize with large groups of people.

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<v Speaker 1>But on the same side, divorces to even still hard

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<v Speaker 1>to get all the paperwork filed and to go through

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<v Speaker 1>all that. So you know, what you kind of see

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<v Speaker 1>is a lot of couples maybe staying together for practical reasons,

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<v Speaker 1>money reasons, other things. Yeah, and when you think about

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<v Speaker 1>a divorce, you know there is In some ways, you

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<v Speaker 1>can imagine it being pretty simple to divide up your assets.

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<v Speaker 1>But for a lot of couples who are going through divorces,

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<v Speaker 1>especially people with children or businesses or complicated finances, this

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<v Speaker 1>is a terrible time to get a divorce. I talked

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<v Speaker 1>to divorce lawyers and they say a lot of these

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<v Speaker 1>people are just sort of feeling stuck and they're not

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<v Speaker 1>ready to make a big decision right now. So the

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<v Speaker 1>relationship might not be doing well. But for example, how

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<v Speaker 1>do you decide on child custody issues right now? If

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<v Speaker 1>daycares are closed or schools are closed. How do you

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<v Speaker 1>decide what that business is worth if you know it's

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<v Speaker 1>a restaurant that's closed or doing really badly. So a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of those things are going to get pushed out,

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<v Speaker 1>probably to next year, and you know, maybe we'll cease.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe some people will actually work through their issues, and

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<v Speaker 1>the divorces that they would have actually happened last year

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<v Speaker 1>maybe never happened at all, and maybe people learn to

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<v Speaker 1>stay together. One of a contrast in all of this,

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<v Speaker 1>we look to China for some of their numbers, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's why I guess this kind of makes a little

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<v Speaker 1>more significant. You know, there were a lot of filings

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<v Speaker 1>for divorce in China when they were coming out of quarantine,

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<v Speaker 1>So maybe this is kind of a particular thing that's

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<v Speaker 1>going on in the United States only. Yeah, and it

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<v Speaker 1>could be different in different parts of the country, So

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<v Speaker 1>we might not have the full picture here, but I

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<v Speaker 1>definitely think that we'll be looking forward, you know, looking

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<v Speaker 1>one really kind of watching these numbers and saying, is

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<v Speaker 1>there this pent up demand for divorce and marriage or

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<v Speaker 1>to some of the divorces and marriages that were supposed

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<v Speaker 1>to happen, maybe they'll never happen. And you know, part

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<v Speaker 1>of the longer term trend in the US, which might

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<v Speaker 1>be different from other countries, is that divorce and marriage

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<v Speaker 1>have both been declining for many years here, and so

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<v Speaker 1>does that trend actually kind of accelerate because of the

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<v Speaker 1>pandemic or maybe you know, people I've known some people

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<v Speaker 1>who who have started dating this year and found people,

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<v Speaker 1>So so maybe there's a pent up demand and maybe

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<v Speaker 1>next year things will really bounce back. Yeah. You posed

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<v Speaker 1>a really good question in your article. You know, how

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<v Speaker 1>many of these weddings that might have been called off

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<v Speaker 1>in will eventually go ahead. You know, are those relationships

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<v Speaker 1>going to continue and go that full route? And as

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<v Speaker 1>you mentioned, kind of how you're staying with this generation

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<v Speaker 1>right now, waiting longer to get married things like that,

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<v Speaker 1>like how will this impact that trend? And that's just

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<v Speaker 1>something that we're gonna have to wait to see, but

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<v Speaker 1>definitely something to watch out for. Yeah, for sure. I

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<v Speaker 1>mean we've seen couples, especially young people, being much more

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<v Speaker 1>selective about who they marry, and you have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people who have just kind of foregoing marriage altogether.

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<v Speaker 1>And you've also seen people who the people who actually

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<v Speaker 1>end up getting married in the US these days are

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<v Speaker 1>more likely to stay together because you know, they're sort

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<v Speaker 1>of a self selected group of people who aren't just

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<v Speaker 1>entering into these relationships in a casual way. So we

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<v Speaker 1>could see those trends continue or we could see a change.

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<v Speaker 1>This has been a crazy nine months of our lives

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<v Speaker 1>and it'll be fascinating to see how society changes and

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<v Speaker 1>how attitudes change. Ben Steverman, reporter at Bloomberg News. Thank

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<v Speaker 1>you very much for joining us. You're welcome. I'm Ascar Ramirez,

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<v Speaker 1>and this has been reopening America. Don't forget the effort.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's big news stories. You can check me out on

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<v Speaker 1>the Daily Dive podcast every Monday the Friday, so follow

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