A GOOD education and well-paid job greatly increase a man's chance of finding a mate, according to a study that shows men with no tertiary qualifications are more likely to be single.

 

Men and Women Apart: the Decline of Partnering in Australia, to be released in Melbourne today, reveals a startling decline in the number of unqualified men setting up households with a partner.

 

The analysis of Census data reveals the proportion of 30 to 34-year-old unqualified men with wives or live-in partners dropped from 68 per cent in 1986 to 52 per cent in 2001.

 

Their plight also was reflected in data showing only 41 per cent of 30 to 34-year-old men earning less than $16,000 had partners, compared with 71 per cent of their peers who earned more than $52,000.

 

The findings led the authors - Bob Birrell, Virginia Rapson and Clare Hourigan from Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research - to argue for a new focus in the debate about declining fertility levels.

 

"Though not denying the disincentives to having children for women who find it difficult to combine paid work and motherhood, more attention should be placed on why men and women are not partnering and thus are not in a situation to begin contemplating having children," they say.

 

They suggest part of the explanation is economic: people without stable incomes baulk at committing to relationships.

 

The data shows most single men in their 30s do not conform to the stereotype of the roving bachelor, luring conquests to the pad. Only 28 per cent live alone, and many live with their parents.

 

The report, commissioned by the Australian Family Association, also challenges the notion that people with a tertiary education are more likely to guard their autonomy and stay single while pursuing a career.

 

Graduates with healthy incomes are the winners in the family arena, forging new "collaborative partnerships" in which they share domestic and work roles.

 

Women with a degree are also more likely than their less qualified sisters to be married or in a de facto relationship.

I'm doing my part (LOL) - the only degree Brian has in an associates from Moraine Valley.