Report: Immigrants key to addressing Maine's workforce woes
Photo / Tim Greenway
Reza Jalali, coordinator of multicultural student affairs, at the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus, says New Mainers are contributing to the state's economy.
A new report from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Maine Development Foundation says that attracting immigrants to the state is necessary to deal with Maine’s workforce, which is projected to decline as employees retire, with too few young workers available to replace them.
“We hear from employers across the state and throughout the economy about the difficulties they face in finding enough workers with the skills and education they require,” Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. “Part of the solution is to help every Mainer participate in the workforce to his or her highest potential. But with our demographics, we also need to look beyond our borders to bolster our population, our workforce, and our economy. It is estimated that new immigrants and their children are expected to account for 83% of the growth in the U.S. workforce from 2000 to 2050. We need to be part of this equation.”
According to a U.S. Census Bureau survey cited in “Maine’s Labor Shortage: New Mainers and Diversity” the population of foreign-born Mainers has grown in recent years, but only makes up 3.5% of the state’s population, compared to the 12.3% of New England’s population and 13.1% of the U.S. population that is foreign-born.
Reversing Maine's aging population
Maine also has the highest median age in New England at 43.5 and is tied with Vermont for the slowest population growth in the region at 0.1%.
But how does Maine compare to other large, mostly rural states across the country? According to the report, Iowa and Minnesota both have higher rates of foreign-born population compared to Maine, and both states have higher population growths and a lower median age.
The report also says the implications of the state’s demographic challenges extend beyond raw data, many of which are being felt today — lower tax revenue, greater demands on services, smaller school populations and a smaller, less dynamic workforce all stem from Maine’s demographic difficulties.
“Even if we kept all of our young people here, we simply do not have enough of them in the state now to replace the retiring baby boomers,” state economist Amanda Rector said in the report. “We must attract more workers to the state if we are going to have enough people to fill the jobs that will open up as the older workers retire, and we’ll have to attract even more if we want businesses to be able to grow.”
Overcoming the deficit
Can New Mainers make up the deficit and keep the state viable going forward? "I think they've already done that," Reza Jalali, coordinator of multicultural student affairs at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, told Mainebiz in January in a story about the impact of Maine’s immigrant population on the economy. "Lisbon Street in downtown Lewiston was dead a few years ago. Once the Somalis arrived, they started stores and then families moved into apartments that used to be empty, which attracted investors to buy and rehab more buildings, which meant jobs for local carpenters. And so it goes."
The same is happening in Portland, where a grocer or restaurant may initially serve their nationality group, but locals wishing to expand their palate will find their way into the neighborhood, he noted.
"There are about 20 nail salons and five Indian restaurants in Portland. They're hiring people, they're buying food and paying taxes," added Jalali, who came to the United States as a refugee from Iran in May 1985. "From one end to the other of Forest Avenue, most of the businesses are immigrant-owned.”
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