Forsaking living together for the sake of a pay check

Times have changes and so have our lifestyles. With rising prices and intense competition getting a decent job with a decent pay is quite difficult. As a result many families have both parents working to support the family which may also cause them to live apart from each other due to the nature of their jobs.  

Many families have their parents divided due to the pay check. Such families depend upon software such as Skype that enables them to have a video conference with their overseas families. This is the only way they get to spend quality time with their distant family.

Mr. Gosh working in his Philadelphia office communicates with his wife and Children in New Zealand in this manner everyday. Such technology enables Mr. Gosh to contribute to running his house even though he is at a distance. He says regarding communicating through video chat “We talk in the morning and around dinner, when my wife needs my help the most; this was a career decision we simply had to make for financial stability.”

The 2006 census Bureau revealed that more than 3.6 million married couples do not actually live together because of the fact that they have jobs in different regions. The co-director for the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, David Popennoe said “Families today are undergoing all sorts of strains that didn’t exist before and are simply having to adjust to make things work.”

Such marriages where the couple lives divided due to chasing after paychecks have been termed as commuter marriages. Reginald C. Richardson, a vice president of the Family Institute says “I think we are going to see more and more commuter marriages in the future, given the global economy and the fact that our technology now makes this more doable.”

Emma Child of Rose Partnership says noting an increase in the couples that are willing to live apart for the pay check that “Eighteen months ago anyone searching for a new job would ask to be placed in their current location, now they come in and say ‘I am prepared to move,’ even, if necessary, without the family.” 

She went further on to say “We send a lot of people to emerging markets right now. But honestly, who wants to move the family to Lagos? And if the spouse is working, who wants to give up the second income?” Forsaking the family for the sake of achieving a better standard of living is bound to have its consequences on the next generation.