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Mills Seeks Advice From Workforce Experts At NGA Summer Meeting

Gov. Janet Mills is attending the summer meeting of the National Governors Association in Salt Lake City, where she questioned workforce experts on how to encourage older workers to learn new skills.

Mills says Maine has among the highest numbers of seniors in the workforce, who may need new job skills to keep working. She asked experts attending the meeting, including Jamie Merisotis of the Lumina Foundation, about how to get those workers motivated to go back to school.

“You are not going to get that former Bath Iron Works worker to go do coding,” said Merisotis. “It’s not going to work. He or she is simply not going to want to do that. You have got to meet them where they are."

Merisotis says studies by his organization indicate that its more productive to bring that training to the workplace, rather than expect older workers to travel to community colleges or university campuses for training.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.