Gov. Janet Mills on Monday urged business leaders and community organizers to build on the progress that has brought more than 13,000 new workers to Maine in the past three years.
Maine ranked ninth in the nation for net immigration last year, driven primarily by people moving from other states. Maine was also one of seven states that saw positive international migration in all of its counties, Mills said.
He said it’s no longer safe to assume that young people will leave Maine for better opportunities.
“Now that is changing. That phenomenon is changing,” Mills said Monday during an event with the Maine International Trade Center and the Maine World Affairs Council in Portland. “And it’s because we offer a great education here in Maine, two years (of) free community college (for) recent high school graduates. “It’s because we offer a great sense of belonging, a sense of community, a sense of security.”
But Mills acknowledged that job growth is still well below the state’s goal of adding 75,000 new workers by the end of this decade.
“We are getting there. It’s good news,” she said. “But we know that our economic growth continues to outpace the number of people available to work in Maine. “We need everyone who can work in Maine to be able to support themselves.”
He said the state needs to invest in more housing, broadband and child care options to help working-age people stay in Maine long term. And he said the federal government should shorten the waiting period for asylum seekers to be eligible for work permits.
Much of Maine’s congressional delegation has attempted several times to pass legislation that would allow asylum seekers to start working earlier or secure a waiver to grant an exception to asylum seekers in Maine. But so far multiple attempts have failed.
Meanwhile, Mills said the state is trying to think of new ways to promote Maine as a destination for working teachers.
The first year of an advertising campaign aimed at attracting out-of-state teachers to Maine generated about 2,000 applicants.
“We’ve been advertising in subways in major cities like New York City with mobile billboards and faculty-specific ads on college campuses,” Mills said. “I hear governors from other states say, ‘Stop advertising in my state. Remove those signs from our subways, our buses and trains.’”
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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