The authors test whether structural indicators of mate availability—Wilson’s marriageable pool and sex ratio arguments—help explain individual-level racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of single motherhood among young women. Using the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data for greater Los Angeles, they add mate availability measures to individual-level models. Quantity alone (sex ratio) is unrelated to single motherhood, but relative availability of employed men accounts for a significant share of what otherwise might be considered individual-level differences among immigrant Latina, native-born Latina, Black, and White women. Higher rates of single motherhood for native-born Latinas and Blacks appear to be partly due to poor marriageable pools.
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