Despite the apparent prosperity of the 1990s, a growing underclass of single low income males (SLIMS), not in full-time work and lacking the economic resources to hold a family together, is the major reason for the decline in the marriage and fertility rate since the mid-1980s.This is the key finding of a major study, Men and Women Apart: The Decline of Partnering in Australia, commissioned by the Australian Family Association (AFA). The study, was done by Dr Bob Birrell, Virginia Rapson, and Cl…
