Houlton area jobless rate near U.S. average

Dept. of Labor says train for future jobs
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Cutting the high national unemployment rate remains one of the most volatile of the hot-button political issues fueling campaigns around the country. But, pockets of unemployment vary from area to area. And, where you live may influence your outlook.
    Houlton’s 9 percent unemployment rate nearly mirrors the national average standing at 9.2 percent. Ironically, Maine as a whole looks relatively good with its 6.5 statewide percentage compared to the U.S. as a whole. One year ago, the national average was 9.5 percent and Maine was at 7.4 percent.
    Dana Evans, labor market analyst for the Maine Department of Labor (DOL) said the figures released for September 2010, the most recently available, are not seasonally adjusted. And, he added, the numbers are based on household surveys, not the location of jobs.
    When looking at the Houlton labor market area as compared to the Presque Isle labor market area, the figures tell a slightly different story. Presque Isle’s 7.6 percent rate of joblessness is substantially lower than Houlton’s.
Maine’s job losses
    Adam Fisher, DOL spokesperson, said Maine as opposed to the rest of the county, does see significant seasonal factors that push the numbers up or down in any given month which may be more of a seasonal trend than an indicator of the national economy. Fisher added that the recession hit Maine’s communities hard during the recession. But, it was not as devastating as in other parts of the nation. California, Michigan and Nevada are plagued with unemployment numbers sticking in the low teens where record home foreclosures and deep home price cuts reflect the malaise in the national economy.
    “About half of the net loss in Maine’s jobs were in construction and manufacturing. Workers most directly affected by the recession and those who have run out of benefits tend to be in the ‘rim’ counties like Washington, Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset,” Fisher explained. He added that those areas had fewer options for workers to move into a new job after losing one in construction or manufacturing for example.
Maine’s future jobs
    A DOL projection of where the jobs are or where they will be from 2008-18, found that about half of the net gain will be in the health care sector. The projected balance of new jobs, according to Fisher, will be in professional business services, tourism, trade, transportation and utilities. For that reason, Fisher stated, workers should look at their skills and match them with future opportunities.
    “The other piece of this is geographic and education levels. Seventy percent of the long-term unemployed in the state have only a high school education or less. But going forward, 64 percent of the net gain in jobs will be in occupations that require some sort of post-secondary training. That’s a real challenge right now.”
    Fisher elaborated that the department’s position is to tell workers who have lost a job, to be aware of where the new opportunities are going to be and the kind of training that will be needed to be competitive for those jobs.