Senator Miramant: Supporting Maine People and Creating Quality Jobs

Recently, I joined with Senate and House Democrats to roll out an economic priorities plan for the legislative session. Our goal is simple – a unified focus on quality jobs and strong wages for Maine people. As I traveled around the Senate District last year, this was a common concern for many, and for good reason.

While the rest of the country is moving its way out of the recession, here in Maine, we are still behind. According to a recent study, we have only recovered 56% of the jobs. This is unacceptable and we must do better. This is the reason why I will be working with fellow lawmakers to improve this figure and focus on efforts to build our job training, workforce development, college affordability, and create quality jobs.

One of the best ways to improve our economy is to enable traditional or vocational college affordability. It is no secret that folks with education beyond high school earn more money than those with just a high school diploma. However, the high cost of college is an obstacle that prevents many from staying in college and even applying in the first place. For those who do earn a degree, they are then burdened with staggering college debt. Statistics show that the average debt for a Maine college student has steadily increased to $30,000, putting us 7th in the highest debt per student in the country.

We also know that there is a demand from Maine companies to hire graduates who complete college or community college with the skills and education necessary for their trade. These can be good paying jobs waiting for qualified applicants. We cannot lose these opportunities. It will not matter how we attract businesses to our state or create jobs if we do not have the workforce to meet the needs. We must continue to create public-private partnerships that would train and develop workers to meet the demands. This kind of partnership is a win-win for students, workers, businesses, and local economy.

On a parallel track to workforce development efforts, we also need to be putting forth strategic policies that encourage and recruit new and young people to our state. Our aging population is creating a growing need for the future workforce. Simply put, we need new blood! So how do we attract people to Maine? Most people move and stay here because of our quality of life. We have to ensure that Maine stays an attractive place to live, work, and raise a family by continuing to invest in our communities.

While we are trying to come up with those new solutions, what we have in place now is the Maine Career Center in Rockland, and it provides a variety of programs and trainings for Maine workers and businesses. They can be contacted at (207) 596-2600 or at www.mainecareercenter.com.

I do my best work when I know what you are thinking, so please stay in touch. Please contact me by email at davemiramant@gmail.com or by phone at (207) 236-4845.