CWRI

Workforce conditions in Maine were very tight with historically low unemployment in the four-year period through the beginning of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic sent the economy into a steep decline in the spring, and now, in the middle of 2020, the recovery is underway. At this point, it is unclear how long full recovery will take or what all the long-term impacts will be, though there are likely to be many. This forecast covers the period from 2018, the base year, to 2028. It does not include years in between, though we cannot ignore the fact that employment today is well below 2018 levels. It considers some of the longer-term impacts we expect in the aftermath of the pandemic, though the full range of impacts cannot be fully understood at this point. Long Term Employment Growth Context The rate of change in employment in Maine has varied significantly over the last seven decades, with long periods of little change and of rapid growth. In both cases, the number of births was the key fac