Myth: Fathers Don’t Earn Enough to Contribute Significantly to the Support of Mother and Child
This is not true in most cases. Eight out of 10 unmarried fathers were employed at the time of their child’s birth, according to Robert Rector, senior research fellow in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. Rector claims that despite the fact that the earnings capacity of non-married fathers is generally maligned, these men actually earn more than the mothers in the period prior to the child’s birth. Over 60 percent of fathers who have children outside of marriage earned enough at the time of their child’s birth to support their potential family with an income above the poverty level even if the mother did not work at all.
