In the Washington Times:

America’s economic revival is tied to the revival of a strong marriage culture, according to a new study.

Compared with other family arrangements, marriage offers the best economic outcomes for men, women, children and the nation, said Patrick Fagan, head of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute at the Family Research Council (FRC), in an analysis released late last week.

Only 5.8 percent of married families lived in poverty in 2009, he noted in the new study, called “Marriage and Economic Well-Being: The Economy of the Family Rises or Falls With Marriage.”

... Mr. Fagan argued that the federal government’s welfare and anti-poverty safety net - which now accounts for $112 billion a year - is needed in part because of the social costs from high rates of cohabiting, divorce, unwed childbearing and single-parenting.

These unmarried family forms are associated with lower incomes and less wealth, according to data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances cited in the FRC report.