Education and diversity key to growth in Maine
Education and diversity in Maine are hot topics now.
This was reinforced at our recent Mainebiz panel discussion, “Five on the Future.”
As a backdrop to this discussion, economist Jeffrey Fuhrer, a senior policy analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said employment is improving in Maine, but not at the rate of New England or the nation overall. Portland and southern Maine in general, as well as Bangor, continue to outpace the rest of the state. Likewise, housing prices reflect the same trends — lagging New England and the nation, stronger in southern Maine and Bangor.
Wherever we go in Maine, we hear CEOs talk about the difficulty of finding workers. We've heard it at Mainebiz “On the Road” events. We've heard it in boatyards, high-tech labs, restaurants, law firms and from building-and-excavation contractors. Our panel echoed this sentiment.
Michelle Hood, president and CEO of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, cited shortages of doctors and nurses. The health system, which has eight hospitals from Canada south to Portland, is turning to foreign-born nurses to fill positions.
Adam Lee, chairman of Maine's largest automobile dealership group, Lee Auto Malls, cited a shortage of qualified mechanics — positions that can pay $70,000 to $100,000 a year. “We need people,” he said.
As Wick Johnson, president and owner of Kennebec Technologies in Augusta said, “there's a lack of skilled people.” He added that his precision machine shop can train the right candidates. “I'm just looking for someone who can write a coherent paragraph and is reasonably good at math.”
There are not enough young people coming out of schools with engineering degrees, medical degrees, nursing degrees, accounting degrees. There are not enough graduates with technical skills coming out of community colleges and tech schools. There are simply not enough young people. As economist Charles Colgan has said previously, “There are more jobs than people.”
So, education is an issue, but so is the lack of population growth and the outflow of young people.
That's where the discussion of diversity comes into play. Several panelists cited the need to engage the immigrant communities, both in attracting people to Maine then in offering educational and employment opportunities. “We need to embrace the immigrant population,” said Ellen Belknap, president of Maine's largest architecture firm, SMRT Architects.
There may be reasons to be optimistic. I received an email from the Council on International Educational Exchange, which claims to be the nation's oldest and largest study abroad and cultural exchange organization. At Deering High School in Portland, CIEE plans to deepen its investment, offering more scholarship opportunities. Deering promotes a global education experience and is itself a bastion of diversity, with students from 54 countries speaking 27 languages. It is believed to be the first Maine public school to offer a program to study the Arabic language.
In this issue, we delve further into hiring and workforce issues.
Senior Writer James McCarthy talked to Bath Iron Works President Fred Harris about the shipyard's desire to streamline costs and become more competitive. Training is key to that, particularly with an aging workforce, but BIW is also considering ways skilled workers could cross over into other tasks when needed. Outsourcing is being discussed, though union leaders are wary of what that could mean.
Meanwhile, for our Greater Portland focus, correspondent Jennifer Van Allen asked several executives how they are coping with labor shortages. Increasingly, companies like Kepware Technologies and Apothecary by Design are forming partnerships with colleges and universities to find interns that could, they hope, become full-time employees. Those pipelines are key to Maine's economic future.
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