Income and Demographic Characteristics of Nonresident Fathers in 1993:

Chapter IV:
Characteristics of Nonresident Fathers

Contents

1. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Nonresident Fathers, By Payment Status
2. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Low-Income Nonresident Fathers, By Payment Status
3. Nonresident Fathers' Child Support Payments, By Poverty Status

In this section we show that nonresident fathers who do not pay child support (nonpayers) are quite different from nonresident fathers who do pay child support (payers). Furthermore, among nonpayers, we find that 60 percent of them have a limited ability to pay child support. We suspect that strict child support enforcement by itself will not yield much support from these fathers. We also show that among payers, lower-income fathers tended to pay a higher percentage of their income toward child support than higher income fathers.

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A. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Nonresident Fathers,
By Payment Status

In general, nonresident fathers who do not pay child support tend to be poorer, work less, and have less education than nonresident fathers who pay child support. Furthermore, nonpayers are more likely than payers to be younger, African-American, Hispanic, and never-married.

Table 8 shows that almost a third of nonpayers are officially poor, compared to only 7 percent of payers. Over half of nonpayers (56 percent) have incomes below 200 percent of the poverty threshold, but only 21 percent of payers have family incomes that low. Instead, nearly 80 percent of payers have family income above 200 percent of the poverty threshold, compared to 44 percent of nonpayers.

Nonpayers also tend to have considerably less personal income than payers. In fact, about half of all nonpayers have less than $10,000 in personal income. In contrast, only 17 percent of payers have personal incomes below $10,000.

Given the lower income of nonpayers relative to payers, it is not surprising that they tend to work less. Thirty percent of nonpayers did not work in 1993 or were incarcerated that year; only 5 percent of payers did not work that year. Nearly three-quarters of the payers worked full-time all year, but only 43 percent of nonpayers were fully employed.

Nonpayers tend to have less educational attainment than do payers. Only 16 percent of payers have less than a high school degree, compared to one third of nonpayers. Nearly forty percent of payers have attended college, compared to only about one quarter of nonpayers.

Nonpayers also tend to be somewhat younger than payers. For example, 16 percent of nonpayers are under the age of 25, compared to only 7 percent of payers. Nonetheless, almost half of nonpayers (48 percent) and over 60 percent of payers are over 35 years of age.

Nonpayers are more than twice as likely as payers to have never been married or to be in a first marriage, suggesting that their nonresident children are more likely to be born out of wedlock. One third of nonpayers have never been married, compared to only 13 percent of payers. Another quarter of nonpayers are in their first marriage, while only 10 percent of payers are.

Nonpayers are disproportionately nonwhite: 32 percent are African-American, 16 percent are Hispanic, and 3 percent are of other races (49 percent are white). In contrast, 68 percent of payers are white, only 21 percent are black, 10 percent are Hispanic, and 1 percent are of other races.

Interestingly, being a resident father is not that different among payers and nonpayers. Thirty five percent of nonpayers and 37 percent of payers are resident fathers as well as nonresident fathers. The biggest difference in the living arrangements of payers and nonpayers is that 11 percent of nonpayers are incarcerated (we assume that all of the nonresident fathers who are in prisons are not paying child support). Nonpayers are also less likely to live alone, and more likely to live with relatives, than are payers.

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B. Socioeconomic Characteristics of Low-Income Nonresident Fathers, By Payment Status

In this section, we compare low-income nonresident fathers who do not pay child support to low-income nonresident fathers who pay child support. The reason for this comparison is to consider how realistic it is to expect child support enforcement, by itself, to yield payments from low-income nonresident fathers who do not pay child support. We find that low-income nonresident fathers who already pay child support face fewer employment barriers and have more income than low-income nonresident fathers who do not pay child support. This suggests that child support enforcement, by itself, will have a difficult time expanding the number of child support payers among low-income nonresident fathers.

Table 9 shows that nearly half of low-income nonpayers (48 percent) have been out of work for the past 12 months, while only 13 percent of low-income payers have been out of work this long. Not surprisingly, their lack of employment is reflected in their family incomes--the majority of low-income nonpayers (57 percent) live in poverty, while this is true of only a third of low-income payers. Nearly half of low-income nonpayers lack a high school diploma, but only 30 percent of low-income payers never graduated from high school. Low-income nonpayers are also more likely to be African-American and Hispanic than low-income payers. Whites represent only 40 percent of low-income nonpayers, but 63 percent of low-income payers.

Interestingly, low-income nonpayers tend to be younger and older than low-income payers. Nearly 20 percent of low-income nonpayers are under age 25, but only 10 percent of low-income payers are that young. On the other hand, nearly half of low-income nonpayers are 35 years of age or older, but only 44 percent of low-income payers are that old.

Table 9 also shows that low-income payers are more likely than low-income nonpayers to be married and live with their own children. About half of low-income payers are currently married and half of them live with their own children. In contrast, only a third of low-income nonpayers are currently married and a third live with their own children.

If low-income payers are not married, they tend to be divorced or separated. Only 16 percent of low-income payers have never been married. In contrast, among low-income nonpayers who are not married, the majority of them have never been married. Although the majority of both low-income payers and nonpayers are single, relatively few of them live by themselves (12 percent of low-income payers and 11 percent of low-income nonpayers).

Finally, table 9 shows that 20 percent of low-income nonpayers lived in prisons in 1993, representing about 600,000 men.⁽¹⁰⁾ Since the incarcerated population has increased since 1993, it is reasonable to assume that this number has increased as well.

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C. Nonresident Fathers' Child Support Payments, By Poverty Status

Not surprisingly, the chances that a nonresident father pays child support increase as his resident family's economic situation improves. Table 10 shows that over 70 percent of nonresident fathers with family incomes above 500 percent of the poverty threshold paid child support in 1993. In contrast, only about a quarter of nonresident fathers with family incomes below 200 percent of the poverty threshold paid child support that year.⁽¹¹⁾

The amount of child support paid also increases as the nonresident fathers' economic position improves. For example, the median amount of child support paid by better-off nonresident fathers (those with family incomes above 500 percent of the poverty threshold) was $4,800 in 1993. In contrast, the median amount paid by low-income nonresident fathers (those with family incomes below 200 percent of the poverty threshold) was less than half that amount ($2,040).

Although higher-income nonresident fathers tend to make larger child support payments than do lower income nonresident fathers, those who pay child support tend to spend a smaller percentage of their personal income on child support. Overall, the median nonresident father who paid child support spent 13 percent of his personal income on child support. However, the median nonresident father whose family income fell below 200 percent of the poverty line paid 19 percent, compared to 10 percent for those with family income above 500 percent of the poverty line.

Table 10 also provides information about the distribution of child support payments as a percentage of nonresident fathers' personal income by the fathers' poverty status. For example, it shows that lower-income nonresident fathers (family incomes are below 200 percent of the poverty threshold) who pay child support are four times as likely to spend more than 25 percent of their personal income on child support than higher-income nonresident fathers (family incomes are over 300 percent of the poverty threshold). Only 9 percent of higher-income nonresident fathers (family income is above 300 percent of the poverty threshold) who pay child support spend 25 percent of their personal income on child support, whereas 36 percent of low-income nonresident fathers (family income is below 200 percent of the poverty threshold) who pay child support spend that much. In contrast, only 38 percent of low-income nonresident fathers spend under 15 percent of their personal income on child support, whereas 68 percent of the highest-income nonresident fathers do.

Differences in rates of payment of child support appear even greater when the poorest fathers, "impoverished" fathers, are compared to non-impoverished fathers. "Impoverished" fathers have family income beneath the poverty threshold for their family size or have personal income below $7,518 (the poverty threshold for a single individual in 1993). Nearly a third of all nonresident fathers are impoverished (table 11). Black nonresident fathers are much more likely to be impoverished than are nonblack nonresident fathers. Almost half of black nonresident fathers are impoverished, compared to only a quarter of nonblack nonresident fathers. Impoverished nonresident fathers are much less likely to pay child support than are non-impoverished nonresident fathers. Nearly half of those who do not pay child support are impoverished, compared to only 12 percent of those who pay child support.

Endnotes

10. We estimate that 600,000 nonresident fathers are living in prisons and we assume that all of them are not paying child support and they have no income.

11. In 1993, the poverty threshold for a single individual was $7,518 and the poverty threshold for a family of three was $11,522.

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Last updated: 02/20/01