There is a demographic trend of which HR personnel, management, business owners, and CEOs need to be aware. According to demographic trends analyst, Cheryl Russell, by year 2005, most common household in US will be single-person households. "Never before in American history has living alone been predominant lifestyle," says Russell, and time is fast approaching. According to American Association for Single people (http://www.singlesrights.com/main.html), 2000 UC Census reported that 82 million men and women in United States are unmarried. This figure includes nearly 20 million adults who are divorced, 13.6 million who are widowed, and more than 48 million who have never married.
· More than 48% of all households in nation are headed by unmarried individuals.
· About 40% of workforce is unmarried.
· Approximately 36% of people who voted in last national election were unmarried.
· About 27 million Americans live alone, while about 2 million adults live with an unmarried partner.
The Census Bureau has projected that between ages of 15 and 85, average man and woman will experience more years being unmarried than they will being married.
According to this data, a huge and growing population is choosing to be alone. If you define adults as those over 18, 44% of US adults - that's nearly half -- are singles.
Of 18 to 24 age group, 85.9% are single. This is a very substantial change from a generation ago, and this is group that will be coming your way!
The American Association for Single People (AASP) projects that by 2010, 47.2% of adults over age of 18 will be unmarried.
If we assume that this trend continues, and Cheryl Russell is not only one who thinks it will, what will this mean to workplace?
First of all, there will be increasing pressure for economic, political, corporate, and legal reforms to accommodate this shift to unmarried adults.
Secondly, it seems probable that adults are going to be seeking more connection, and more social contact at work - with nearly half of workers being single.
While living alone does not necessarily mean lonely, it does mean that whatever emotional needs were being met previously by marriage will not be met. Those adults who live alone will have less emotional support and fewer outlets for emotional expression and meaningful contact outside of workplace.