… And Making It in Maine

As complicated as it is to re-write the tax law at the federal level, the need for doing so is simple locally. Though Maine’s unemployment rate remains a relatively modest 5 percent, the shift in the kinds of jobs beneath this number has been substantial and damaging to Maine.

The state has lost a greater percentage of manufacturing jobs than any other since 2000 – 17,800 jobs lost, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which records also that Maine lost 4,200 white-collar jobs between 2000-’02. The losses were offset by gains in other areas, notably the leisure and hospitality industry. But the problem with that is clear enough: The average papermaking job pays approximately $52,000 annually. The average full-time wage in the leisure and hospitality industry is $13,320.

All states are losing manufacturing work; Maine is losing more in part because it had more to lose. Holding onto some of these jobs, even if only for several years, is crucial and reason enough to support Sen. Collins’ legislation, described above. But Maine’s troubles run even deeper, as a report by Charles Colgan of the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service reports.

Dr. Colgan recently reviewed the four traditional industries that make up the state’s economic base: agriculture, forest products, fishing and tourism. There is some good news in his summary – the lobster catch has been up, softwood lumber is in demand, potato production steady. There remain markets to be tapped, he says, if Maine is in a position to do so.

“Unfortunately, it appears that Maine’s natural resource industries have not only been losing in absolute terms, but also in relative terms with their national counterparts,” writes Dr. Colgan. Like manufacturing, Maine will lose out disproportionately in its traditional base unless it can respond to these opportunities. That suggests changes nationally must be accompanied by state changes as well. A state-level GoME may be in order.