A new state report says there will be fewer than 100 new jobs created in Maine through 2026.
A report from the state Department of Labor’s Center for Workforce Research and Information says that while a significant number of jobs will be added in fields such as health care, food preparation and personal care, other fields such as sales, office administration and production will experience equally large job losses. The report also projects that by 2026 Maine will lose more than 30,000 workers in the 45-to-54 age range and add more than 30,000 in the 65-plus range. The upshot? More Mainers will be working into what had been retirement years.
Overall, the report predicts net growth of only 96 jobs in Maine from 2016 to 2026, representing total job growth of 0.014 percent over the 10-year period with roughly nine jobs added to the state’s economy each year.
By far, the greatest increase in jobs will occur in the health care industry, according to the report. It predicts that Maine will add more than 3,800 jobs among health care practitioners and technical occupations, as well as about 2,000 jobs in health care support occupations.
The next-biggest increase will be in food preparation and food service, with about 1,600 jobs expected to be added, the report says. Personal care and service occupations are expected to add 1,300 jobs, while building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations are expected to add about 1,200 jobs, it says.
The biggest job losses are projected to occur in office and administrative support occupations, according to the report. It predicts that more than 4,900 of such jobs will be lost in Maine from 2016 to 2026.
Sales and sales-related occupations also are expected to take a significant hit. The report projects that nearly 2,800 sales-related jobs will be lost in Maine over the 10-year period. The next-biggest decline will be among production-related occupations such as manufacturing, with a loss of about 2,100 jobs, it says.
The industry expected to add the most new jobs in Maine from 2016 to 2026 is health care and social assistance, with about 7,000 jobs projected to be created, according to the report.
The industry expected to lose the most jobs is durable goods (1,500 jobs), followed by nondurable goods (1,000 jobs), it says. Paper manufacturing is expected to lose about 900 jobs.
Maine’s population is expected to grow by more than 50,000 from 2016 to 2026, going from about 1.06 million to 1.1 million residents, the report says. The biggest increase will be in the 65-plus age range, with an increase of 113,000 residents, it says.
Nearly all other age ranges will see a decrease in residents, with the biggest loss (about 45,000) occurring in the 45-to-54 range, according to the report.
It projects that the demographics of Maine’s workforce also will skew older by 2026, with about 31,000 more jobs held by Mainers 65 and older. Meanwhile, about 34,000 fewer jobs will be held by residents age 45 to 54, and 4,200 fewer jobs held by residents age 55 to 64, it says.
The only younger demographic projected to pick up a significant number of jobs in Maine by 2026 is the 25-to-34 range, which is expected to add about 12,000 jobs, the report says.
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