When we graduate from high school, figuring out what to do with our lives is never easy. Choosing a career path takes years, sometimes, decades. There are many factors to consider when selecting a career, but seldom do we consider the potential effects of that decision on our future marriages.
Jobs can impact your marriage
U.S. Census data makes it clear that one’s profession can impact your marriage. How? Career website Zippia analyzed census data about people who had divorced by age 30, and then compared those divorced people to their jobs. In this way, the site compiled lists of jobs that seem to negatively affect marriages.
High divorce rate jobs
Military careers and skilled trades had the highest divorce rates by age 30. In fact, some young military personnel had divorce rates as high as 30%, nearly double any other career path.
Low divorce rate jobs
California career paths that require a lot of education and typically high salaries have lower divorce rates. These include doctors, clergy, lawyers, etc. Yes, lawyers have lower divorce rates on average than most other professions.
Commonalities
There are two factors that are common with both military service and skilled trades: danger and long hours. Both professions are hallmarked by time away from family and friends, in addition to dangerous work conditions.
Military service is the epitome of danger and time away from family, and it rarely pays as well as the skilled trades. This may explain the disproportionate divorce rates by age 30.
Your job cannot dominate your life
A key takeaway for our readers from this data is that your job should not dominate your life. Those jobs with the highest divorce rates were those where their job dominated their lives.
Marriages can survive these trials, but often do not. This is when you may need a California family law attorney to ensure your rights are protected.
