© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Report: Maine Needs Immigrants to Grow Economy

A new report warns that Maine’s economy will need an infusion of new workers, including immigrants, in order to achieve any future growth.

The report issued by the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine State Chamber is blunt. It says Maine faces a projected shortage of workers as more people age and retire.

Over the next 15 years, the state will go from having about three working age people for each retiree to about two working age people for each retiree. The report says the worker shortage will extend to the service and health care sectors, to professionals and to skilled factory workers.

Yellow Light Breen, president of the Maine Development Foundation, says to fill those jobs, Maine needs to attract immigrants from other states and other countries.

“We will need to attract thousands of additional immigrants to this state to have the workforce that will enable our industries to thrive. So, that is a fact, it’s not a belief or perception,” he says.

Breen says the study is a continuation of its research into the state’s workforce needs and challenges. The foundation’s Ryan Neale says it will require a team effort to attract new workers.

“Maine needs a coalition of business leaders to be front and center in this effort,” he says. “This group can also work with other stakeholders to ensure Mainers acquire skills that are desired by employers.”

The report was released at the high-tech manufacturing plant of Kennebec Technologies in Augusta. The company’s Wick Johnson says many employers recognize the findings in the report and will join in the effort to welcome immigrants to Maine.

“Kennebec Technologies, along with similar companies in Maine, is in very, very serious need of new blood and fresh ideas about employment,” he says.

But with immigration a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign as well as at the state level, Breen says there are immigrants from other countries that may not not feel welcomed, and that he says will have to be addressed.

“Is inflammatory rhetoric helpful? No. So we’re here to be maybe a counterweight to that, in terms of a steady voice that says let’s pay attention to data,” he says.

Breen says the data show that many immigrants have the advanced degrees and skills sought by many employers, and that too much of the current rhetoric is based on stereotypes. Chamber President Dana Connors agrees.

“I am sure that they do, many of them feel unwelcome. But we are here to say that is not the case. And we are also here to say, to bring this sense of urgency to the impact this has on our economy, to try and embrace those that come to our state,” he says.

The report also encourages employers to take advantage of Mainers with disabilities and older workers who may choose not to retire. It says more efforts should be made to recruit veterans into the workforce.

Breen and Connors say the state needs to start addressing the problem now, or future generations will suffer.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.