Economy

"The wage gap remains a reality we must confront," Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said on Thursday's National Equal Pay Day. The designation represents how far into the year women in the U.S. just have worked in 2026 to earn what men made in 2025.

The Maine Center for Economic Policy estimates that ICE's “Operation Catch of the Day" reduced taxable retail sales by around $3.4 million during the 10-day period in the areas most directly affected by the raids.

An analysis found that clean energy jobs grew three times faster than the state’s overall workforce.

“My baseline features a still-uncertain inflation picture, with continued upside risks,” Susan M. Collins told a business gathering on Friday.

“When energy costs rise, everyone feels it — at the gas pump, in heating bills and in grocery prices,” an economics professor at the University of New England College of Business told Mainebiz.

A study released by the Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast values Maine's logging industry at $534 million.

A decline of 5,019 people was offset by 7,406 new residents from other states and another 4,040 from international migration.

Maine's Democratic governor and U.S. Senate candidate aims to use funds from the state's Rainy Day Fund to build 825 dwellings, including 530 new homes and apartments for middle-class families.

Tariffs “were a rollercoaster ride last year, and that rollercoaster does not seem to be easing up at all this year,” Maine State Economist Amanda Rector told a Mainebiz forum on Wednesday.

Greater Portland enters 2026 with a strong economic foundation and a vibrant business community, yet employers face very real pressures, according to Quincy Hentzel, president and CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce.