WSJ What’s News - Why Fewer Americans Are Having Kids

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

A.M. Edition for Aug. 19. People aren’t just waiting longer to have babies and having fewer of them–they’re less likely to have any at all. The WSJ’s Rachel Wolfe explains how attitudes toward parenthood are changing. Plus, AMD strikes a deal for AI equipment maker ZT Systems as it looks to mount a challenge against Nvidia. And, the women’s Tour de France gets a dramatic finish. Kate Bullivant hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RBC has helped millions of young Canadians turn their most likelies into most definatelies, making their ideas happen with scholarships, internships and skill development, plus resources for artists and athletes. Learn more at rbc.com slash support youth. The Democratic National Convention kicks off today in Chicago. Plus chipmaker AMD strikes a deal hoping to rival Nvidia and we'll look at the significant attitude shift that's leading more Americans to opt out of having children. Young people these days are much more likely to view kids as one possible component of a meaningful life rather than a necessity for one. It's Monday, August 19th.

I'm Kate Bulevant for the Wall Street Journal filling in for Luke Vargas, who's in Chicago reporting from the Democratic National Convention. Here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. We begin in Chicago, where the Democratic National Convention gets underway today. We'll get our first dispatch from our colleagues on the ground in tonight's episode, but for now let's look at what's on the agenda for today. President Biden is set to take the stage tonight, kicking off an event he was meant to be the star of just a few weeks ago, before he dropped out of the presidential race. Instead, Biden is set to use his speech to affirm

Vice President Kamala Harris and to make the case for her agenda. According to White House officials, Biden's address will also focus on his record as president, including his administration's work to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, steer the economy and defend democracy at home and abroad. For Vice President Kamala Harris, the convention will be her chance to present herself to the public. But the DNC won't come without its challenges for the Democrats. Crowds of activists are expected to gather outside the convention with calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza shaping up to be the prevailing message. Organisers say they expect at least 20,000 people to turn out for a demonstration later

today. While Chicago looks set to take centre stage in politics this week, markets will also be focused further west on Wyoming. With the annual Jackson Hole Symposium starting there later in the week, Journal Markets editor Katie Bernato says investors will be on the lookout for more concrete clues on the Federal Reserve's plans regarding interest rates. Traditionally, Jackson Hole has been a point at which the Fed has indicated a bit about what its future policy might be. Of course, at the moment, we have a fairly good idea

or a strong idea that they're going to be cutting rates in September. But any further hints as to how big that cut might be, and of course any suggestions if there was a hint that they weren't going to, would probably create a lot of ruffles. Any words from officials, particularly Powell on Friday, will be scrutinized for any suggestions of deviation from the pre-existing is going to cut rates in September. People also listen for hints as to what it will do further forward, what the rate path might be beyond the next meeting in September. And we asked Katie what else she's watching this week. Earnings season has quietened down a lot, but still trickling in. So Palo Alto Network's results today may be of interest. It's a rival crowd strike, which obviously has been very high profile since the adage.

There's also outside of the US some more central bank announcements, including China and South Korea, which will be of interest in a week in which central banks are in focus. Advanced Micro Devices has agreed to pay nearly $5 billion to buy AI and data center equipment maker ZT Systems as it tries to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the field. The cash and stock deal is one of AMD's largest to date and is part of the company's push to offer a wide range of chips, software and system designs to its big data centre customers like Microsoft and Meta. In an interview, AMD chief executive Lisa Su said that privately owned ZT has more than $10 billion of annual sales, almost half of what AMD reported in revenue

last year. Su said that AMD plans to sell ZT's manufacturing business once the deal closes, but keep its system design business. Let's take a look at what else is happening in markets today. Shares in live streaming service Fubo are rallying in off-hours trading after a judge on Friday blocked Warner Brothers Discovery, Fox and Disney from launching a rival sports streaming service. Fubo had sued the three partners, arguing the venue's sports venture would be anti-competitive. Warner, Fox and Disney say they'll appeal. Shares in Seven-and-I, the Japanese operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores ended the day 23% higher following a takeover

offer from Canadian peer Alimentation Couchetard. 7&I said it was considering the offer. And an interest rate cut by the Bank of England earlier this month, its first in four years, seems to be injecting new momentum into the UK's property market. According to data from real estate portal Rightmove, the number of potential home buyers reaching out to agents rose 19% year on year in August. Last month the increase was 11%. Coming up, we'll look at why more Americans aren't having babies. And a 600 mile long race came down to just four seconds. Those stories after the break.

With Uber Reserve, good things come to those who plan ahead. Family vacay? Reserve your ride as soon as you book your flights. To all the planners, now you can reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. See Uber app for details. Many Americans aren't just waiting longer to have kids, they're less likely to have any at all. And with the country's birthrate at a record low, the topic has been on the lips of politicians and high-profile individuals. For a recent low, the topic has been on the lips of politicians and high profile individuals. For a recent story, Journal Economics reporter Rachel Wolff wanted to find out why young people today are thinking long and hard about having children. And she joins me now to tell

us what she found out. Rachel, can you start by breaking this down for us? Are we seeing a sudden drop in people deciding not to have babies or is this part of a more gradual trend? We saw childlessness begin to pick up in 2012 and for the past decade has been accelerating. But now researchers see it as more of a choice rather than an affliction. People are deciding not to have children rather than, you know, due to financial or some other reason. So it's more intentional. I was originally going to write a story about why people are having fewer kids and it turned

into a story about people deciding not to have any kids at all. And so what I found is that women without children, rather than those having fewer, counted for most of the decline in average births among 35 to 44 year olds during their lifetime so far. And so childlessness actually accounted for over two-thirds of the 6.5% drop in average births between 2012 and 2022. And this is happening across the board. More women in the 35 to 44 age range across all races, income levels, employment statuses, regions, and broad education groups aren't having kids.

So during your reporting, Rachel, you spoke with a number of different people, all with their own reasons for not having children. Giovanni Perez and Mariah Sanchez from the Bronx, for example, told you they felt like they needed to have a certain amount of money. Is that something you've heard from many people that you spoke to? Absolutely. Economists say people feel they need to be in the ideal financial, emotional, and social position to begin a family. So while we saw Perez

is keen to have children, Sanchez is hesitant. She's influenced by her own experiences growing up with a single mom and she wants to live in a bigger house and to have a higher income to move up at the advertising agency where she works before starting a family. So money is playing kind of an interesting role in people's decision making right now. It is the case that people are spending more on their kids than they did in the past. However, only some of that is due to rising prices. The other part is that our expectations for how much parents should be spending on their children, how many opportunities they should be giving them

has gone up as well. And in your reporting, you found that although financial pressures are very much a reality for these couples, there's a broader shift in attitudes around having children that's at play here. Tell us a bit about that. One of the big findings that researchers shared with me is how our culture has changed as

far as expectations of parenthood. So young people these days are much more likely to view kids as one possible component of a meaningful life rather than a necessity for one. And on that, here's a couple from Portland. You spoke to MJ Petroni and Oleg Karpinatz. Let's hear what MJ had to say. I did a lot of things earlier in my life that were big career focus, worked really hard, and now I want to be able to enjoy myself and relax a little bit more, and also to spend time with the family I have already. Rachel, I'm curious to know, did this couple always feel this way about having children?

So they both went into their 20s thinking that they wanted kids and told me that it was almost shocking to them when they realized that a meaningful life didn't necessarily include having their own children. Many people these days assume kids are in their future, but then they get set in existing lives that they enjoy and end up making the choice to not become parents and to focus on being the best aunt or the best uncle. And with less pressure from family members and society, it's becoming less assumed. That was Journal Economics reporter Rachel Wolff.

Rachel, thanks for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. And finally, eight days, 600 miles, 35,000 feet of elevation and just four seconds. Those are the numbers that crowned Poland's Kasia Niwodoma as the winner of the women's Tour de France yesterday. The race finished on the legendary Alpe d'Huez with the closest winning margin in history of either the men's or women's race. Journal Sports reporter Joshua Robinson watched it all unfold.

Kasia Niwodoma of Poland was struggling up the final climb trying to desperately hold on to her 1 minute and 14 second lead while Demi Wollering probably the best women cyclist in the world was up the road on her way to winning the stage but the margin of victory wasn't quite enough and Kasia Nowodoma hung on by just four seconds overall to win. The idea behind the modern women's Tour de France is to make it look and feel as much like the men's tour as possible. So giving it many of the same historic climbs, giving it closed roads, fans all the way along barriers and eight stages that are increasingly difficult and set up epic finishes like the one we saw on Sunday.

And that's what's news for Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach with supervising producer Christina Rokker and I'm Kate Bullivant for the Wall Street Journal filling in for Luke Vargas. We'll be back tonight with a new show and until then, thanks for listening.