Whether a young person is in school or working is an indicator of future success. School and work help teens acquire the skills, knowledge and supports they need to become productive adults. Teens who drop out of school and do not become part of the workforce are at risk of experiencing negative outcomes as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

In 2018-22, 4% of youth ages 16-19 in Worcester County were not in school or not working, slightly lower than the state rate of 5% and less than the national rate of 7%. This represents a three-percentage point decline in Worcester County since 2000. Youth populations for local areas within the County were too small to yield reliable survey results.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.