Reported By: Tom Porter
Maine's population, we've often heard in recent years, is aging. But some analysts are also concerned about another demographic shift, and what it might mean for the state's economy over the long term.
"We won't be able to grow and prosper in the manner that we hope if we're not able to attract new populations to Maine," says Laurie Lachance, president and CEO of the Maine Development Foundation, a non-profit which aims to drive long-term sustainable economic growth for the state.
Lachance is dismayed by the fact that in 2009, Maine was one of just three states that saw its population decline. Last year's Census numbers did reveal slight population growth over a 10-year period, but still less than half the national average of nearly 10 percent.
While the state is starting to make some progress in retaining more of its youth, as well as persuading some native Mainers to return here later in life to work, Lachance says that there's still a huge need to attract more skilled immigrants from overseas.
"A number of the jobs that currently exist in Maine's economy--and particularly the jobs that are projected for the future--require high degree attainment or fairly high skill of educational attainment, and right now we simply do not have the bodies to fill those jobs," LaChance says.
For some ideas on how to deal with the problem, LaChance suggests that Maine look northward to the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The province, which shares historical and cultural ties with Maine, also faces similar demographic challenges, with an aging population that, until five years ago, was shrinking.
Then, in 2006 the provincial government set up the Population Growth Secreteriat, "http://www.gnb.ca/redirect/0105/3100/index.htm"an agency charged with retaining, and attracting residents. The Secreteriat works with local businesses who need to recruit skilled workers from out of state--or out-of-province, in this case.
One such businesss is Mariner Partners. "We've gone to career fairs in both Montreal and Toronto, where we meet with people who have a breadth of experience," says Marie Jo Thibault, marketing director at Mariner, an IT Consulting firm based in Saint John, which also develops technology used to provide television over the Internet.
With assistance from the Population Growth Secreteriat, Mariner Partners was one of a number of companies from the province visiting these career fairs and trying to entice new employees. When it comes to persuading IT professionals to re-locate to New Brunswick, Thibault says the place sells itself. "That's rather easy because the quality of life is something that we bring up right away," she says.
Many, she says, are attracted by the prospect of a short commute time, a friendly population, and a lower cost of living than many major North American cities. Marc Savoie was one of them. "The quality of life, especially for my children, is a much better environment for them to be bought up," he says.
As product manager, Savoie has helped fill a need for experienced R&D professionals at Mariner. He came to Saint John from Massachusetts five years ago. "I moved out of Boston, and for us to bring our children to a respectable day care, and for me to drive to work would have been an hour-and-a-half commute to do the drop-off, and co-ordinating that just seemed like a nightmare," he says.
His commuting in Saint John, he says, is much less stressful. "Five minutes to drop off the kids and I'm able to work either from home or in the office, so the flexibility of work allows me to have a shortened commute and be more productive, really."
As a native New Brunswicker who's been lured back to his home turf, Savoie is one particular demographic that the Population Growth Secreteriat is targeting. But some companies are looking farther afield to find enough workers to fill the payroll.
"A number of years ago we were having some challenges just meeting our needs, so we have been recruiting people from eastern Europe, Romania in particular," says Nell Halse, who is with Cooke Aquaculture, which farms and processes salmon in Canada, Maine and South America. It's headquartered about an hour down the coast from Saint John in Blacks Harbor, close to the U.S. border.
The company, she says, employs about 160 non-Canadians--about 15 percent of its New Brunswick work force--including Asians as well as Eastern Europeans.
"We have been working closely with our provincial government departments on our recruitment program, which means that the people that come in to work here are obviously paid exactly the same as the local folks would be," Halse says. "But we also have the added challenge of settling them in, finding housing, providing language training."
New Brunswick's success in growing its population provides valuable lessons for Maine, says Laurie Lachance of the Maine Development Foundation. "Maine is very similar to the Maritime provinces, probably far more similar to our neighbors in the Maritimes than even our neighbors in other parts of New England, and we can certainly understand that if they can do this, we can do this."
A wide array of business sectors, she says, would benefit if Maine, like New Brunswick, would make an official policy of encouraging skilled immigrants to move here. "There has to be somebody whose job it is to focus on that for the long-term, and to make sure it's integrated into many of our policy decisions," Lachance says.
It's a cause which she hopes will be taken up by at least some of Maine's elected leaders in the near-future. As for New Brunswick, the provice reports four straight years of population growth.