Though hardly unexpected, the announced layoff of 475 from Dexter Shoe jolted Dexter last week into contemplating a future without the source of local jobs and local identity. Employees are understandably nervous, as are town officials, about what happens next and while both may see the global forces that moved the jobs abroad as overwhelming, there is recourse, say state officials, especially for those who stick together.

Paul Luce of the Department of Labor recently described the state’s plans to help Dexter, and perhaps the most heartening points he makes is that in Maine’s recent history more than 80 percent of laid-off workers find new jobs after retraining at pay levels, on average, of more than 90 percent of the lost jobs. That is not a reason to celebrate, but it is a reason for hope.

The state’s plan, used successfully elsewhere in places like Milo and Newport, is to find quarters in town to open offices that will, first, find out what displaced workers want to do for careers, second, promote jobs in growing areas of industry so that the workers aren’t in the same position two or three years from now and, third, match up the training and other resources needed to help workers into the new employment. This is a difficult transition to make, and will require the support of the federal government through trade adjustment assistance, of the town and of the closing plant. The more donated and in-kind services Labor can obtain to operate this resource office, the more money it can put toward worker training and rehiring. (The state already has applied for a $1 million federal grant and expects approximately another $2 million in trade adjustment money.)

But most of all, the state plan depends on the Dexter employees. According to Mr. Luce, they will be expected to participate in looking for new jobs, be prepared to try re-training and be ready to commute or move to new jobs. These can be extremely hard steps to take, particularly for workers who thought they would finish their working lives at Dexter. But the steps are also essential and workers there should know that Mainers in Millinocket, Sherman Mills, Berwick and a half dozen other communities have gone or are going through similar challenges. Dexter can make it, too.

This is may not be the time to point out that Maine’s transition from a shoe-making history to a high-tech future has been uneven, geographically and in terms of state effort. Rapid response from the state to laid-off workers is a laudable and necessary strategy, but it is a strategy to be used after more forward-looking development strategies have failed. Maine has lost 2,000 manufacturing jobs so far this year (Gov. King suggested in Dexter the other day that this wasn’t bad considering that the nation has lost a million such jobs) and will certainly lose more of its remaining 83,000.

Meantime, the focus needs to be on helping Dexter address these changes with as little pain as possible. That will take a lot of coordination and commitment from everyone, especially employees, so that when the first lay-offs begin in November the town is ready and equipped to move forward.