WHO DO MARRIED MEN HAVE HIGHER WAGES THAN UNMARRIED MEN

In this article the author investigates the interesting feature that m arried men usually have higher wages than unmarried, divorced or widow ed men. There are three main theories that aim at explaining this feat ure. According to one theory employers simply favour married men. Thus , unmarried men are discriminated against. Another theory suggests tha t through marriage, the male worker's productivity increases. For exam ple there tends to be a division of labour in a marriage. The wife con centrates on taking care of the housework, while the husband can conce ntrate on his career and work harder in order to support his family. T he third theory suggests that there exists some kind of selection mech anism. Married men have some features which make them attractive both on the labour and the marital market. The empirical evidence presented in this article supports the selection hypothesis. However, the wage premium married men receive can also be attributed to other factors, e .g. a productivity increase through the division of labour in a marria ge.