Unmarried couples living together slowly decreasing

The rate at which married couples are living together is slower in this decade than during the 1970s, the Census Bureau says.

Despite the continually growing trend in the last decade of unmarried couples living together, that number is increasing at a slower pace than in the 1970s, the Census Bureau says. About 2,220,000 as of March, 1986, shared living quarters with an unrelated adult of the opposite sex. That's four times the 523,000 did in 1970. Since 1980, however, the rate of increase in unmarried couple households has averaged 5.6% a year, down from 11.1% annually in the 1970s. This figure represents only 4% of all such couples. The slowdown is being attributed to the decrease in the number of young adults, the main source of such households.

The report did not probe unmarried couples about their relationship. Such households "may be made up of boyfriends and girlfriends" and "others involve situations such as owner-tenant relationships or paid employees of the households."

Other findings of the preliminary report include:

  • The median first-marriage age for women has remained higher in the 1980s than previously recorded. In a final version of a 1985 Census Bureau poll released last December, 23.3 was reported as the median age of women and 25.5 for men.
  • Average family size was down to a new low of 3.21 persons, compared to 3.29 in 1980. A record low of 2.67 was also reported for average household size.

Many hospitalizations deemed unnecessary

Forty percent of hospitalizations are probably unnecessary, a study published in the November, 1986 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine indicates.

The study, conducted by Rand Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif.-based research concern, examined the medical records of 1,132 adults hospitalized in six cities between 1974 and 1982. It determined that 23% of the patients could have been treated in a doctor's office or clinical laboratory, or at an outpatient x-ray facility. Another 17% were treated for surgical procedures that could have been provided at outpatient surgery centers.

Hospitals have been criticized for providing expensive medical care that is deemed unnecessary. Government insurance plans and company sponsored insurance programs have considerably reduced the use of hospital care in the past several years by using programs that examine the appropriateness of hospital admissions. The Rand study plans further expansion of these review programs.

Insurance plans that require patients to pay for part of their care didn't limit the number of hospitalizations, the study also reveals. In plans that require such cost-sharing, 22% of admissions were judged unnecessary while plans that provided total insurance coverage, 24% of admissions were viewed inappropriate.

With many insurance plans now requiring such cost-sharing, a reduction in the use of expensive medical care is anticipated.

Owner's problems

The most important problems small-business owners face, according to a Dun & Bradstreet survey are: cash-flow squeeze, 25%; liability insurance, 17%; finding qualified, motivated employees, 14% and controlling costs, 11%.

Study shows elderly, well-educated getting richer

Education and age, rather than race or household make-up, are attributed to the growing gap in the distribution of the nation's wealth, states a new report.

Furthermore, the report acknowledges an increase in income inequality but states it has been greatly inflated by the media.

"There has been a remarkable rush to judgment, to the conclusion that the Reagan administration is responsible for increasing inequality," says the report presented recently at a seminar sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative-oriented policy group.

The findings were based on Federal Reserve Board surveys between 1977 and 1983. Authors are John Weicher of AEI and Susan Wachter of the University of Pennsylvania. The surveys conclude that "inequality increased because of changes in the relationships between education and wealth and between age and wealth. The elderly and the well-educated have gained; the middle-aged and the uneducated have lost."

Among their findings, in 1977 constant dollars:

  • Those with a college degree had a mean net worth of $71,190 in 1977 and $82,770 in 1983. People with only a high school education had a net worth of $37,401 in 1977, up to only $37,680 six years later.
  • Based on age, "the dividing line comes at age 55," it says. Those aged 55-64 had a net worth of $61,598 in 1977 and $82,115 in 1983 and people aged 65-74 saw their mean net worth grow from $53,514 to $84,499 six years later. Younger than 55, the mean dropped off in every category: from $6,842 in 1977 to $4,531 in 1983 for 17-24 year olds; $18,804 to $16,651 for 25-34 year olds; $44,359 to $40,710 for 35-44 year olds, and $59,725 to $56,320 for 45-54 year olds.
  • By race, the AEI report reveals net worth of white households increasing from $44,817 in 1977 to $52,820 in 1983. Blacks improved slightly, from $12,064 to $16,766. Hispanics overall saw a tiny drop in their net worth, from $15,642 to $15,318.