Employment growth among older Maine workers outpaces nation
The percentage of Maine workers ages 55 and over grew at a faster pace than all other states since 2010 while the rate of total job growth in the state lags the rest of the country, according to a report from the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
The report showed that, as of last month, Maine had gained back almost half of the 30,500 jobs lost during the recession that began in late 2007. In New England, that growth rate put Maine alongside Connecticut and Rhode Island, all with a nearly 50% job recovery. As a whole, New England has gained back 96% of the jobs lost in the recession, driven primarily by Massachusetts’ adding about 202,400 jobs, roughly 60,000 more than it lost during the recession.
The study’s focus on other movements in Maine’s labor market and economic recovery focus on the period from 2011 to 2014. For that period, the study found Maine ranked 49th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for its rate of job growth, which was 2.1%. That’s compared with a regional average job growth rate of 3.7% and a national rate of 6.3%.
While Maine’s recovery for total jobs lagged, the report found that the percentage of Maine’s total adult population that is employed continued to grow slightly since the recession. Over the same period, the U.S. employment-population ratio has remained mostly flat.
Since the end of the recession, the report found the percentage of people over 55 with jobs grew from 38.1% to 43.3%, outpacing all other states for employment growth among that demographic. Employment among workers ages 25-54 remained virtually unchanged for that period.
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