Maine's aging population contributes to 'barely growing' workforce
Maine’s population continues to age, new U.S. Census data confirmed this week, and local economists said that will continue to slow the state’s overall economic growth.
The Bangor Daily News reported that Maine’s median age was 43.9 years in 2013, the highest median age in the country, according to the new U.S. Census data. The trend didn’t surprise economists contacted by the newspaper, who said it explains “why Maine is experiencing slow growth in [gross domestic product], personal income, employment and [other] measures.”
“Our workforce is barely growing,” Glenn Mills, the state Department of Labor’s chief economist, told the BDN, “and the challenges to growth will increase in the years ahead unless we are able to entice more young people to move to the state.”
The newspaper noted that populations of people between the ages of 45 and 64 grew by more than 90% in every Maine county from 2010 to 2013, while populations of people between ages 18 and 24 decreased in six counties over the same period.
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