AUGUSTA — I am writing in response to a July 1 op-ed by John Dorrer and David Vail titled “Retooling Maine’s displaced workers.” The pair paint a bleak picture of workforce conditions, reciting statistics that are either wrong or that leave out important context in a way that misleads.
They claim that “one-fourth of Maine’s 20,000 officially unemployed this April had been out of work more than six months.” Actually, 11 percent (not 25 percent) had been unemployed for six or more months in April. The 2017 average of 3,000 unemployed for six or more months was the lowest total on record since 2003, and the 7.5-week median duration of unemployment was the second-lowest on record.
They assert that “the actual number of Mainers either unemployed, involuntarily working part time, or discouraged from job-seeking is twice the official unemployment level.” The reality is that this has always been the case, both in Maine and nationally. That measure (known as U-6) is currently the lowest on record since 2003 and is lower than the national average.
They state that “labor force participation among Maine adults age 25 to 54 dropped from 87 percent in 2001 to 82 percent in 2017. That decline represents 30,000 more working-age Mainers not participating in the economy.”
For the record, the truth is a little less dramatic. The labor force participation rate of those ages 25 to 54 declined from 85 percent to 83 percent between 2001 and 2017 (not from 87 percent to 82 percent), representing 10,000 not participating in the labor force. Participation is down primarily in rural counties where the mill and forest products economy declined sharply.
They contend that “most of the 30,000 jobs Maine lost in the Great Recession were in the male-dominant manufacturing and construction sectors. Many former family breadwinners exhausted unemployment benefits without finding new full-time jobs and never received appropriate counseling and training for jobs in the growing service sectors.”
This is ancient history. On net, all jobs lost in the recession have been recovered, although the working-age population is shrinking. Most of those who exhausted unemployment benefits did so a number of years ago and eventually became re-employed during the recovery (and some reached retirement age). The number of manufacturing jobs has been virtually unchanged for eight years, a very positive development after 30 years of consistent declines; the number of construction jobs has steadily increased for seven years, despite low rates of household formation.
Dorrer and Vail insist that “seventy percent of those unemployed less than five weeks expect to find jobs within a month, but the figure drops to 29 percent for those jobless a year or more.” But they fail to provide the positive context – that, fortunately, the 2,000 unemployed for a year or more was the lowest number on record since 2003.
They stress that the Maine Department of Labor should perform “frequent … skill audits to anticipate which skill demands are likely to grow and decline over the coming five to 10 years.”
We publish projections of demand for around 650 occupations, covering nearly the entire workforce. Associated with each occupation are the knowledge, skills and abilities that the occupation requires, as well as other prerequisites. Those include manual dexterity, problem solving, oral or written communication, physical strength, critical thinking, active listening, reading comprehension and many other qualifications. The knowledge, skills and abilities required for success as a carpenter, nurse or bookkeeper differ. Information on which knowledge, skills and abilities are most important for any occupation, including those in high demand, is available through links on our website.
Here are a few additional things we are doing:
• Increased focus on apprenticeship development to help employers recruit employees and develop their skills. Ten new sponsorship sites have been added this year, serving more than 1,500 apprentices, with 114 more sponsor inquiries pending.
• Successful employer-based projects to recruit and train staff. One health care company had over 200 applicants for 20 slots and achieved a 95 percent completion rate. From the initial project, that company is now working to promote and develop from within by providing increased academic focus and a career path for employees.
• One company is working with the Maine Department of Labor and a community college to develop HVAC and commercial driver’s license courses to lift the oil delivery industry. The company donated four trucks to the Maine Community College System to help with training.
• Co-location of CareerCenters at some community college campuses to reduce overhead and improve integration of workforce development programs.
• The Maine Hire-A-Vet campaign has helped more than 700 veterans find employment in the past three years and it’s growing every year.
• YES Initiative to help youth get into work.
We need to be talking about what’s right in this state, and frankly, there’s a lot to talk about.
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