Dunno how true it is, but it sounds plausible. I suspect neoliberalism is doing something similar in the West where people of reproductive age increasingly cannot afford adequate housing and don't have secure enough incomes. Hence the political instability and polarisation we're starting to see.
Yes. I agree, it sounds plausible, but I don't know if it is more than a just-so-story.
But as long as we are indulging in just-so stories, I think you are right about the West. In the USA, in particular, my contemporaries are all at an age where everyone should have started families by now, but many, many haven't, and it is due to financial insecurity. Even if people my age who happen to be relatively well employed are completely saddled with student debt. Coupled with rising rents, this makes people who are working what should be pretty decent jobs barely able to afford their monthly expenses. And it isn't always a case of living beyond their means. The problem is if you want a good job, you have to move where the good jobs are. But the rents in all these places are astronomical. For example, I pay $1900/month in rent for a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment that I share with two other people (one of them lives in essentially a cubicle that used to be the living room, she only pays 1400). Now, I am definitely over-paying, but I am a fortunate son*, so I can afford to live a little beyond my means. And very importantly, I don't have a family, and never plan to.
And I have only talked about those people who are doing relatively well. A giant portion of my contemporaries are just trying to scrape by in the "gig economy", or work in the service industry, living month-to-month, with no health insurance, and zero job security, a good portion of them still living with their parents (many of whom are similarly in dire economic straights). For these people, it is practically impossible to start a family and lead a normal human life. They can barely pay for anything, how would they ever hope to afford their children's education? Or hell, even paying for day care! And these are frequently college graduates. It's not surprise there is rising instability.
It is a worrying set of circumstances. I know me and my fellow well-to-do's are doing, er, well. And it's because we didn't have student loans, and when the economy sucked after we graduated, we simply moved back in with our parents to ride out the worst parts, maybe going to grad school (again, on our parent's dime), or working for our dad's or our dad's buddies. All of us are doing *great*. And the separation between the already wealthy and the less wealthy has widened. And when inequality increases, an people perceive that the system is rigged against them (which it is), that is when the "shit hits the fan." I guess the only saving grace in the West is that the males can still regularly have sex. A bunch of unmarried, unsexed young males with no prospects turns real... ape-ish real fast.
*I went to college and grad school with my father paying out of pocket. I graduated with zero debt. After I graduated from grad school, my rich friends offered to let me stay with them so I could move out to Silicon Valley and find a job, essentially handing me 2-months of free rent, which I would have never been able to afford in this crazy city.
