Maine is 20th best state for working dads in WalletHub list
With strong marks in work-life balance, Maine was found to be the 20th-best state for working dads in a new WalletHub ranking of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.
Massachusetts came in at No. 1, followed by Connecticut, New Jersey and Vermont, while Louisiana was at the bottom of the heap at No. 51.
Researchers set out to determine the best states for men who play a dual role as parent and family provider, looking at four categories of economic and social well-being, work-life balance, child care and health.
Those were further broken down into 22 metrics, with each state getting a weighted average across all of those metrics to calculate its overall score and ranking.
Work-life balance was determined based on a parental leave-policy score, average time men spend on child care, the average work day (in hours) for men, and men's average commute time.
The Pine Tree State came in at No. 11 for work-life balance, No. 16 for child care and No. 33 for health, which included factors such as life expectancy, mental health, suicide rates and the proportion of physically active men.
The authors' note in the introduction states that while three out of four American families relied on a single income back in 1960, today two-thirds of households depend on two incomes, meaning a new role for today's fathers.
"Regardless of the changing identity and priorities of the modern dad," they add, "fatherhood remains an undisputedly tough job."
And while nearly 93% of fathers with children below age 18 are employed, some dads have it better than others, they say in their introduction.
States with the highest unemployment rates for dads with young kids are Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, West Virginia and Alaska.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments