As the severity of the recession subsides and the calamity of the financial meltdown fades from the news, it is too easy to forget the hardships and challenges faced by Maine workers and their families.
By conventional measures, there are more than 50,000 Maine workers reported as unemployed and more than 100,000 when you include discouraged and part-time workers.
At least half of unemployed residents reported unemployment spells of 15 weeks or longer, and large numbers of Maine workers covered by unemployment insurance exhausted their benefits between 2009 and 2011.
A weak economic recovery at home along with global turbulence is dimming the prospects for many to return to work anytime soon. As a result, the unemployed find themselves with rapidly eroding skills and experience and hence lessened market value.
For recent graduates, labor markets have been unwelcoming for four years now. Their rates of unemployment remain double that of the general population. For those fortunate in landing jobs, initial employment experiences are often not commensurate with training and degrees received.
For postsecondary graduates and dropouts alike, mounting student debts impose additional burdens. As entry-level workers, they now dedicate a growing share of diminished salary and earnings to debt servicing.
Maine teens are reporting less part-time and summer employment and thus fewer young people are gaining critical work experience as part of charting effective and informed career paths. There are serious and unappreciated consequences for these developments with few proposals for action.
The full impacts and hardships of job loss and income inadequacy in Maine largely go undocumented. Thousands move in and out of these statistical tallies over time or are members of households headed by job losers.
Nor do these numbers account for the loss of wealth experienced by many as retirement accounts were significantly reduced and real estate assets devalued.
Over the long term, these setbacks for Maine workers have been accompanied by declining real wages, income stagnation and lackluster job creation.
There certainly are signs of structural mismatch in the labor market where the skills of people looking for work do not match those of job openings. Analysis confirms these structural challenges. A review of job postings shows that Maine employers place a high value on business environment skills, communication, coordination and problem-solving skills.
Contemporary workplaces demand these new skills from all workers as more complex interactions and transactions define work. These new skills are the currency of the labor market.
While some Maine employers are frustrated by not being able to fill critical positions, many workers without necessary and current skills and related work experience are being left behind. Unemployment is most severe, for example, among older, low-skilled and undereducated workers. Their prospects for re-employment are poor at best.
On the other hand, Maine’s advanced manufacturing sector has complained of chronic shortages in attracting entry-level workers and skilled technicians.
So do we simply let the invisible hand do its work and leave it to competitive forces to fix our labor markets and human capital challenges? Will it be sufficient to eliminate “onerous, job-killing regulations” and “cut the taxes for the job creators,” as is the prevailing policy preference at the state and federal level?
History and results suggest otherwise. Our human capital achievements and periods of sustained economic growth have been supported by landmark legislation and forward-looking policies. The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862), the Smith- Hughes Act (1917), The GI Bill (1944), National Defense Education Act (1958), Higher Education Act (1958) and the Manpower Development and Training Act (1962) all contributed to repositioning American workers in large numbers through periods of bold, prolonged economic restructuring.
The reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, a critical answer to these challenging question, remains, however, bogged down in legislative wrangling and debates about the locus of governance as funds are being cut.
We need coordinated human capital strategies to prepare for the next wave of economic growth, including:
• Redesigned federal grant and loan programs to encourage workers at risk of job loss to enroll in programs of study yielding marketable skills and credentials.
• Provisions for more favorable tax treatment for workers and students who invest in skills and credentials to qualify for high-demand jobs.
• More favorable borrowing terms and incentives for workers and students pursuing qualifications in science, technology, engineering and math related occupations.
• Making more effective use of bond issues to establish and support human capital investment funds at the state level aligned with economic development strategies.
•Requiring unemployment insurance claimants to upgrade skills and acquire marketable credentials if they are laid off from dying occupations and industries through more effective coordination of benefits payments and training subsidies.
• Making serious investments in building publicly accessible career and re-employment centers that are funded through performance payments tied to job placement outcomes.
We need strong and decisive leadership from policymakers at both the state and federal level if we are to engineer prosperity as our forbearers have done for us.
John Dorrer is former acting commissioner and director of the Center for Workforce Research and Information at the Maine Department of Labor. He now works on issues of work force development with Jobs for the Future in Boston. He is also a member of the Maine Regional Network, part of the Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications. Members’ columns appear in the BDN every other week.
How about some incentives for employers to hire Maine workers? Too many employers are hiring workers from out of State – even when there are Maine workers with the skills for the job. If there are workers equally qualified, why not give some incentive for hiring the Maine resident, instead of relocating someone from out of State? They give tax breaks to businesses to locate here, why not a similar program to hire Maine workers, who have been on unemployment? You take a Maine worker off unemployment, you get a tax break of some sort. Seems like a win/win.
I’m curious if you could tell me what the net number of Maine jobs filled by out-of-state workers is. Of course we know there are some out-of-state jobs being filled by Mainers as we speak. So any meaningful figure of jobs would have to take into account as well those outside of Maine filled by Mainers. And what if the net number is negative and relatively small compared to the number of all the jobs being filled? Should the state of Maine create a program merely to ameliorate a small number of net job loss to out-of-state workers? Without any meaningful data the state government should not even consider embarking on a new program. I suspect we’ve already had too many programs in the past 4 decades that have not paid out dividends for Maine tax payers.
How about all the Canadian loggers working cheap in the North Maine Woods? LePage had a chance to create Maine jobs for Maine people, but he vetoed the tax incentive to hire Maine loggers. Maine’s logging statutes are very strict, which is why loggers are expensive. The Canadian government subsidizes the Canadian employer allowing them to bid cheaper than a Maine logging company. One simple tax break would have meant 100’s of jobs for people in Maine. I guess LePage does not consider the owner of a logging company to be a part of the 1% crowd.
I think you are confusing Canadian companies based and doing business in Maine with Canadian woodsmen working as H-2B non-immigrant aliens. Canadian based companies are indeed Maine employers. Like any other company they must comply with all US laws. Among many things, that means they are required to pay prevailing wages, provide workman’s comp insurance, withhold federal and state income taxes and social security taxes. They are also obligated to hire US citizens and lawful permanent residents before hiring foreign laborers. In order to procure Canadian laborers they are obligated to petition the US Department of Labor to obtain labor certification before petitioning Customs and Immigration Services for Canadian laborers and be willing to meet all the stipulations for hiring these set by federal law. In all respects they are obligated to operate like US owned companies in every detail, just like the makers of Honda do in the US. For your information there are relatively very few of these Canadian companies based in the US.
As to Canadian laborers, no state in the Union may use tax incentives for rewarding employers who hire US workers in lieu of Canadians. That is a direct violation of an international treaty of commerce (North American Free Trade Act) negotiated and implemented by countries, including the US and Canada, signatory to it . Yes, you’ll say this type of commerce is unfair; and that may be so. But the governor and the state have no choice but to abide by it. I happened to be one of the persons involved who advised the governor and my state rep. on this delicate matter.
That said, I doubt very much the proposed expensive tax incentive in question would have made any difference. Employers in the US must do all they can to hire Americans in all situations. They may not be granted permission to hire any one Canadian worker until they have demonstrated a good faith effort to locate a willing and capable US worker over an established period of time (usually several weeks). Furthermore they may not pay a Canadian worker less than an American worker in their employ engaging in the same type of work.
{ As to Canadian laborers, no state in the Union may use tax incentives for rewarding employers who hire US workers in lieu of Canadians. }
Canadians do it!
It’s called Government Health Care.
They Tax everyone to pay for it, the employer gets off the hook.
In effect a Tax Incentive.
Yup, you’re right. That “advantage” Canadian workers have in effect was negotiated away by the federal government. Still, with that said, US employers may only hire Canadian laborers when they can demonstrate a need and an absence of willing and qualified US workers. That situation usually exists only along remote Western parts of Maine more assessable to Canadians. Therefore, the so-called advantage Canadians laborers have over Americans is not a practical one. It’s one that’s more theoretical than anything else.
One more thing: Government health care in Canada is not free. Taxes in Canada overall are much higher there than they are here in the US. In addition to income tax levels comparable to ours, goods and services are taxed by both the provincial and the federal governments. It’s known as the GST tax and amounts to a whopping 15%. Besides, US visitors in Canada feel the pinch when they pay for much higher gas prices and inflated goods and services. As you can see, living and touring in Canada is much more expensive in spite of government provided health care insurance to its legal residents.
An abscences of willing and qualified workers!
DUH!!!!!!
If the wage is Minumum Wage why beat your body when you can sell ice cream at the dairy queen for the same thing????
I can deal with Taxes!I can’t deal with paying premiums to a company who’s only goal in life is profit and to deny payment s in one form or another!
I’m not trying to spoil your day, but I’m compelled to inform you the wages paid out to Canadian workers must be at least the “prevailing wage”, a minimum amount determined by the US Department of Labor. Although I can’t tell you precisely where that level is at currently, I know it is greater than the minimum wage level. The purpose of the prevailing wage standard is to guarantee foreign workers will not be paid less than US workers doing the same type of work under similar circumstances. On account of my past employment I was in a position to see how much money Canadian workers were being reimbursed weekly or bi-weekly. At the time I did not notice any significant discrepancies between their earnings and that of similarly employed US workers.
The way to deal with the Canadian logging issue is fairly simple. The tree growth tax was created to insure the sustainability of Maine woodlands for commercial wood production and harvesting. Since this is a tax advantage granted by the State, we could just add a few qualifying restrictions. All timber harvested on such land must be harvested by Maine workers and Maine companies. All wood products must be processed in the State of Maine y Maine workers.
If I recall correctly, the Angus King administration made the same proposal. It was unable to see it through on account of the fact it would have interfered with international commerce. The federal government exercises sole jurisdiction over international commerce. This means the individual state may not regulate to restrict harvesting to Maine workers and Maine companies as your proposal would do if enacted into state law. For the same reason, the requirement that harvested trees in Maine be processed in Maine before being exported would be deemed unlawful. Basically the existing trade treaty negotiated by the US Department of Commerce with Canada allows Canada open & free access to our markets; and vice versa, the United States open & free access to Canadian markets.
I understand the international law aspect. But let’s attack it from the tree growth tax structure. If you accept the tree growth tax reduction (designed originally to preserve Maine woodlands for commercial timber harvesting, ostensibly to preserve a supply of wood for sawmills and paper mills), then you agree to the harvesting and processing protocols. If not, then your land loses the tree growth designation and becomes taxable at full market value. And that can go for Maine woodland owned by Canadian firms as well.
It’s not a trade issue, it’s a taxation issue.
If as you say it’s merely a taxation issue not designed to interfere with international trade, then I’d be inclined to think it should not be a problem with our trading partner.
Yeah, like health insurance is provided by Canada. That is a huge expense for an employer, especially if the employee has a family.
An easy way to improve employment opportunities is to restrict “Union Only” projects. Union projects are typically 30% higher than if non-union labor is used. That 30% could hire a lot of Mainers who truly need the help. The problem is that the unions own the democratic party.
Good try do you think that a company will hire more people an they pay less than unuion wages i don’t think so all they will hire is the amount of people for what they need to do the work every one knows that weather it be union or non union people
Then you get more projects done for the same $$$
Contracts for federal projects are awarded only to those companies that promise to use union labor to fulfill their contracts. That makes these contracts more expensive.
The three decades old decline in wages is the result of weakening unions. A union is simply a workers collective, standing together to have the power to demand reasonable wages for their work. This is actually the same thing as allowing corporations to band together to write laws that benefit them. ALEC is in effect a union of corporations. Funny that the anti-union gang is unable to make that connection.
Unions are what created a strong middle class for its members and the society as a whole. You may have been convinced by the efforts to demonize them but the fact remains that wages are shrinking in real dollar terms and the result is an ever weakening economy where middle class consumers are stretched too thin to consume like they used to.
Unions represent a small proportion of our workers. Democrats have benefited from union support but it is paltry compared to the support corporations provide.
You seem to argue that free speech and the right to assemble is fine as long as the only ones doing so are the wealthy and exploitative mega corporations. As this trend continues watch America look and behave more and more like a third world nation.
“The problem is that the unions own the democratic party. ”
Corporations own Both Parties!
LOL
Unions don’t even begin to balance it out!
The answer to this is so easy,
1. Restrict voting.
2. Take away a women’s ability to make decisions about her body
3. No collective bargaining.
4. Tax breaks for the 1%
5. Send the rest of the existing jobs to China.
6. Sell Fireworks.
7. Say No to everything else.
That’s not how I would phrase the answer.
1. Ensure fair and free elections
2. Legally protect all human life from its very beginning and its natural ending. This way everyone is welcomed as an equal member of society including the very young, old, disabled, and feeble.
3. Do not required unions dues as the cost for obtaining employment. Union membership should be voluntary in all circumstances.
4. Tax breaks for everyone, not just some. Also, no more income based taxes that discourage job creation and investments among other positive things. The oppressive IRS needs to be abolished in favor of a tax on personal spending on items not absolutely necessary for survival, such as, food and clothing.
5. Stop unfair trading practices with China, and punish China with the imposition of tariffs when necessary.
6. Maine now allows us to sell and buy fireworks, does it not? Furthermore, people are free to assemble and petition their governments, so, if you will, make noise like fireworks.
7. Stand up for your convictions and don’t allow the government to take away your religious freedoms.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond!
So where are the Jobs then, which is exactly my point, everything and anything …. but Jobs.
Yes, I agree there is a scarcity of jobs. I gave you a “like” for this. My suggestion for anyone looking for a job is to keep searching. It might even be helpful to offer ones services for lesser pay even if the job is very temporary in nature. It’s better to stay involved than remaining still waiting for a job to mysteriously arrive.
Honestly my wife and I are self-employed, we make our own work and determine how much of it we take on and want for nothing. The idea that everything must scale is an unfortunate mindset many take, we’ve decided we have enough stuff, and we consider ourselves fortunate not to be sitting in an office cubical or worse, unemployed.
The fact of the matter is the “Jobs” issue is a ruse and most jobs will never return due to globalization. This country is at a tipping point, maybe a breaking point. Many people are fed up with corporate politics, political religion and the greed associated with both. Our government and our churches were at one point intended to administer to the people which they no longer serve. Instead they have formed and un-holy alliance and serve only greed and a twisted ideology.
The answer is easy: Stop rewarding unemployment and incentivizing poverty.
“If you make poverty easy, you will have more of it.” – Ben Franklin
Unemployment insurance is NOT a reward. It is a social stability program that prevents crime, illness, malnutrition, familial strife and decaying neighborhoods. Life on unemployment is no panacea and you would have to be blind or completely disconnected with reality to think such a thing.
Our elites have opted for global labor arbitrage and stuffing their own pockets with the share of profit that used to get spread around. This has left the American worker overworked, underpaid and facing ever shrinking stability and benefits.
Should your “future state” be realized where social safety nets are done away with while maintaining the same power structure, America will be a banana republic where nothing works and nobody cares because they are too consumed trying to provide themselves the most basic security. Forget the land of promise and possibility, it is on track to become the land of the gilded class and the serfs. If you are situated near Bangor Maine, it is unlikely you or almost everybody reading this will be the gilded elites.
Your thesis is amoral. It has been tried and it has created vast suffering and destroyed immense human potential. America is only great when we care for and about each other.
I’m one of those ‘underemployed’ barely making enough to keep the roof over my head. When I lost my job, why did I take a part time job instead of just staying on unemployment? I figured it would look better to not have to explain a large gap in my employment history. I am willing to do any full time job an employer has but the sad truth is for every full time job available, 20 to 30 people apply. And without experience, my application was placed in the circular file. Why? Employers do not want to train because they don’t have to now. They just hire the one with the most experience no matter how much desire and promise I could bring to the table. Now in a better economy I would have been snapped up
Right now there is no incentive for employers to train the people they need . I say if employers are wanting skilled workers, they should offer a training wage to those who show promise and under contract train them. its called an apprenticeship. But you say why do this when I can hire a experienced person. Simple, a Trainee brings a lot less baggage and bad habits to the table than an experienced person!
One more thing, why don’t I go back to school? No resources to. I will be looking to see if I can get a Pell grant and or scholarship but not holding my breath.
Good letter, I think this is what our current State Gov’t is trying to do, by including Tech. Colleges with High School educations. We are a small business that needs people with great work ethic & personal integerity, technical skills, requires heavy lifting, people who don’t mind getting dirty, and good communication skills and basic math skills this equals a pretty good wage. We are not unionized, but we do a great job & have a good reputation. We usually do better than the union guys because we guarantee & take pride in our work. We have a very hard time finding people who fit the bill but when we do we fairly compensate them and treat them like people not a number. I recommend that our State adds more 5 year High Schools that teach trades that are in high demand. Also, High School Teachers need to be more encouraging in class time to students who may want to go into a skilled trade profession; I think the stats show we have too many people with a Bachelors Degree in Literature now who can’t find work.