New analysis from the Maine Department of Labor paints a potentially sunnier outlook for the state's workforce over the next eight years.
Labor officials have consistently pointed to Maine's aging population and fewer young people entering the labor force as a recipe for dire workforce shortages in the coming decade.
And a new report on Maine's job outlook confirms that by 2032, a growing number of baby boomers will have retired and left the workforce, and the number of prime working age Mainers is not expected to change much over the next eight years.
But Glenn Mills, deputy director for the department's Center for Workforce Research, said the prevailing narrative does not account for anticipated increases in worker productivity over the next eight years.
"Even though we don't expect the number of jobs to change very much in the decade, and the population will change more, that does not mean there will not be enough workers," he said.
As some jobs become automated over the next decade, the share of jobs in certain sectors will shift slightly, Mills said. The proportion of jobs in health care, for example, is expected to increase to account for an aging population. The number of jobs in the government sector is expected to dip, as there will be fewer children in Maine's public schools.
