Symptoms of change
Health care sector booms Industry is
- Maine’s largest job creator
- Aging population to intensify growth
A yearlong study by the Department of Labor has found health care is big business in Maine, with a shortage of workers in key jobs and continued growth even as the recession has hammered other employers.
The study found health care to be the largest jobs sector in the state, outpacing manufacturing and retail, representing 17% of all jobs in the state and 18% of all wages paid in Maine. The jobs are comparatively well paid, with health care practitioners and technical jobs averaging more than $67,000 a year.
The study, released to health care administrators and educators by DOL at a meeting in Augusta, identified about 2,000 health care jobs going unfilled in 2009, with the recession well under way. Paul Leparulo, an analyst for the Center for Workforce Research at the state DOL, who was the principal author of the study, said growth in the sector — 17,500 jobs over eight years — is expected to continue. “Over the 2008 to 2018 period, health care sector jobs are expected to increase by more than four times the average rate for all industries in Maine,” he said. “And the expected gain of 9,500 health care jobs through 2018 is anticipated to represent nearly two-thirds of total job production in this state over that time period.”
The study also shows that many of those jobs require advanced degrees and training. “We have shifting demographics, with huge implications,” said John Dorrer, director of the Center for Workforce Research.
The need for more dentists, pharmacists and physician assistants and other professions are all expected to grow much faster than the average of all occupations, according to the study, as aging baby boomers make increased demands for medical services. According to the DOL findings, 15.6% of Maine’s population will be over the age of 65 by the end of this year, expected to be the third-highest percentage in the country.
By 2030, that number is projected to reach 26.5%, second only to Florida. Those figures will continue to drive the demand for health care jobs, Leparulo said. “Statistics show that as a population ages, the number of physicians required to serve that population rises,” he said.
State to receive $116M from feds
- Medicaid, education funds on the way
- Maine still faces $23M gap
Maine’s two U.S. senators helped to clear the way for a measure to provide the state with an estimated $116 million in additional federal aid, but state officials were quick to point out that the funding does not solve the state’s budget problems.
The Medicaid portion of the $26 billion measure, signed by President Obama earlier this month, would provide Maine an estimated $77 million in additional funds, plus an estimated $39 million in aid to local schools. State budget writers counted on receiving the funding in the current budget year and Maine faced a shortfall of about $100 million without it. “Maine had anticipated a straight two-quarter extension of Medicaid funding,” Gov. John Baldacci said. “We still have a gap of $23 million for the current fiscal year. But this is substantially better than we would have had without this action.”
Approval of the measure in the U.S. Senate was far from certain, as both Snowe and Collins objected to earlier versions of the legislation based on concerns about its structure and deficit spending. “They were going to make the tax provisions retroactive,” Snowe said. “That was unacceptable.”
Another funding mechanism Snowe opposed would have taxed the retained earnings of small business corporations, a provision of the tax law that Snowe said small businesses have used as a principal source of capital for expansion.
Collins objected to proposed defense cuts in the bill that would have affected Navy shipbuilding. “There were a wide variety of provisions used to offset the cost,” she said. The largest were the elimination of some tax breaks for U.S.-based multinational corporations that do business overseas and a reduction in the food assistance program starting in 2014.
Baldacci now has to decide which method allowed under the legislation will best serve the goal of preserving teachers’ jobs. “There are two options: one is the EPS (Essential Programs and Services) formula, or the other option is to use the way we distribute Title I (federal grant) money,” said Acting Education Commissioner Angela Faherty.
Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, co-chair of the Legislature’s education committee, said whichever method the governor chooses, there will be winners and losers. “Let’s remember, this is $39 million that was not expected and it will help keep teachers working,” he said. “I think there will be many, many teachers still in the classroom because of this.”
Oil spill fund could see boost
- Delegation backs private-sector payouts
- Upping oil tax debated
With the cost of the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana estimated in the billions of dollars, members of Maine’s congressional delegation support increasing reserves in a fund that pays for spill clean-up and remediation costs for oil companies that lack BP’s resources.
Established in 1986 but not financed by Congress until after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989, the $1.6 billion Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is supported by an 8-cents-per-barrel tax on oil both produced in the United States and imported into the country. That tax adds roughly one-tenth of a percent to the price of oil. Another source of funding is fines and civil penalties from companies that spill oil.
Sen. Olympia Snowe said the fund was set up so money is available to immediately act to contain a spill and start remediation efforts. The president can authorize up to $100 million from the fund for any single spill in a year. “Ultimately the responsibility should rest with the private sector,” she said. “They should be the ones paying into this fund.”
While BP has pledged to pay all of the costs of the Deepwater Horizon spill, many companies do not have the resources to handle a major spill, she said. The law allows companies that lose business — from local fishermen to motel owners — to seek damages through the fund. It also allows state and local governments to apply for aid to offset a decline in tax revenues.
Rep. Chellie Pingree said she supports a proposal before Congress that would quadruple the oil tax to 32 cents a barrel while Rep. Michael Michaud said he will not support a fee increase that oil companies could pass on to consumers.
While it is clear additional resources will be needed for the trust fund, Sen. Susan Collins said those taxes should not be passed on to consumers. “It seems to me that the oil company profits are sufficient that there should be a way to tie the increased fees to oil industry profits, so it is not just passed through to the consumer,” she said. She also supports raising the cap on a company’s liability for economic damages from a spill above the limit of $75 million.
Mal Leary runs Capitol News Service in Augusta. He can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz. Read more of Mal’s columns here.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments