Stay at home dads on the rise; many are poor
By Jennifer Ludden, KQED-TV
The number of dads staying at home with their children has nearly doubled in the past two decades, and the diversity among them defies the stereotype of the highly educated young father who stays home to let his wife focus on her career.
A study from the Pew Research Center finds that almost 2 million fathers are at home, up from 1.1 million in 1989. Nearly half of those men live in poverty.
“The largest share of stay-at-home dads are actually home because they’re ill or disabled,” says Gretchen Livingston, a senior researcher at Pew. “So that could be contributing to their low income, obviously.”
Another chunk of men say they’re at home because they can’t find a job.
“About 22 percent don’t have a high school diploma,” says Livingston, “and 36 percent have just a high school diploma but no college experience.”