Higher rates of participation in the workforce are good for household income and helps address Maine's workforce shortage. Also, knowing how many children have all parents in the work force is needed to project the capacity needed for child care services.
What the data shows
The rate of all parents of children under age 6 in the work force statewide has dipped slightly since the peak 5-year time period of 2014-2018 of 71.1% to 69.0% for the 5-year time period 2019-2023.
At the county level, for the most recent 5-year annual average, from 2019-2023, four counties had rates that exceeded 70%. These were: Cumberland (72.8%), Sagadahoc (89.2%), Waldo (75.7%) and York (72.9%). The counties with the lowest rate of children under age 6 with all available parents in the workforce were: Franklin (52.0%), Knox (58.7%) and Somerset (61.3%).
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