The coronavirus has caused an “unprecedented” economic downturn in Maine. Spikes in unemployment claims have broken the formulas economists use to predict what may come next. The Maine Monitor spoke with four Maine economists and one finance professor about vulnerabilities in the state economy and how it will get back on track.
For the past two decades, Maine’s newspapers jostled between periods of secular industry decline and widespread economic calamity. From 2000 to 2018, six in 10 newspaper publishing jobs have disappeared and wages have grown sluggishly at best. Only paper mills, semiconductor manufacturers, wood-product makers and vocational rehabilitation service providers shed jobs at a faster rate.
Employees, readers and neighbors remember the Biddeford Journal Tribune, which closed last week after 135 years of publishing local news in York County.
Maine’s got plenty of immigrants who want jobs and an abundance of jobs to fill. But it’s not as easy as it seems to put those two things together.
Hiring immigrants has been a great experience for one Westbrook employer who says it’s just taken some accommodation and patience – from both sides.
Maine’s got plenty of immigrants who want jobs and an abundance of jobs to fill. But it’s not as easy as it seems to put those two things together.
Advocates say increasing support for immigrants so they can be more involved in Maine’s workforce is critical to the state’s health, but opponents worry about associated costs, added bureaucracy and favoring outsiders.
As it awaits approvals and opponents amp up efforts, a Norwegian company still plans to break ground in August in Belfast.
The prospect of having the world’s largest indoor salmon farm in their city has divided Belfast residents. Many are concerned about environmental impacts, others see much-needed tax relief.
As the Maine legislature debates reducing some of its $500 million annual tax breaks for businesses to fill a budget hole, a national group has ranked Maine near the bottom for making it easy for the public to find out how that money is spent.
We publish two newsletters: The Daily Monitor (a curation of the day’s most important news from our media partners) and The Sunday Monitor (exclusively featuring our work).
Help us expand our in-depth and enterprise reporting.
Many of our stories have been based on tips from readers.