EDITORIAL: As Maine’s population ages, it’s not all bad news
"We've been first in that measure for a long time," Maine State Economist
However, Rector and two other state and local officials offered some optimism about
Rector pointed to the fact that, while the state population is aging and deaths outnumber births, we are still seeing slight population growth. That's because there are "considerably more people" who are are moving to
She pointed to information from the
Rector said that while much of the recent growth has been concentrated around the greater
"From a city perspective, we have had a lot of job growth,"
Addressing this disconnect between jobs available and skills found in the existing workforce -- commonly referred to as the "skills gap" and often cited by members of the business community as a persistent challenges here in
Another piece of the puzzle, as Conlow alluded to, is making
"That's really just about making a city a really great place to live. It's about walkability, it's about accessibility, it's about transit, it's about having places for people to go and overcome social isolation."
Conlow's point -- that making a city or town a better place for people to age -- really makes it better for the entire community.
Other factors, such as access to affordable housing, health care and high speed broadband are also critical to making our communities more navigable for an aging population and attracting new workers to the state.
Many of the challenges that
"This is about collaboration. There is no one part of government, there is no one agency that can be doing it on its own,"
We remain optimistic that a forthcoming statewide economic plan being developed by Gov.
Wednesday's summit, titled Maine Grown: Building a Future on Big Ideas, will focus on the role that entrepreneurship can play in growing
To borrow from Fortman's comments last week, tackling big issues like growing
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