Speaker addresses issues affecting economy in northern Maine
PRESQUE ISLE — Local leaders will gather to get a clear and updated picture of the region’s workforce and how to meet its training and education needs during the presentation of the Aroostook Labor Force Report.
Dr. Charles Colgan will deliver the report and analysis from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Library Conference Room.
The presentation will be broadcast to two other sites: the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Daigle Conference Room and the Houlton Education Center, Room 121.
Colgan, a professor of public policy and management at the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Policy, will speak about Aroostook County’s employment mobility, unemployment and under-employment, compensation, commuting, and skills, education and training.
The County of Aroostook, the Local Workforce Investment Board and the Northern Maine Development Commission partnered on the report, which was funded by the USDA Rural Development Administration. The report expands on an in-depth labor survey completed in 2000 by the Center for Business and Economic Research.
Research and analysis for the report were performed during the spring of 2007 with special attention to the aging worker, retirement expectations and the implications for maintaining a robust labor force.
The report also explores the characteristics of the Aroostook workforce both from the employer and employee perspective.
Officials hope this study will help in marketing Aroostook County for new investment and jobs, and in shaping the direction of workforce training efforts.
“This report has important information that local employers should be thinking about as they look at future employment trends – especially with our aging workforce,” noted Michael Eisensmith, director of Economic Development at the Northern Maine Development Commission.
The public, especially economic and business leaders, educators, municipal officials and chambers of commerce, are invited to attend.
