The latest report from the Mills Administration’s Chief Economist offers a grim analysis of Maine’s economic condition. The July 2022 Maine Economic Indicators Report revealed our economy is deteriorating, Mainers are losing real economic wealth, and our workforce participation has not recovered since the pandemic.
Maine Economic Indicators is a report assembled by the Office of the State Economist. The Report noted Maine’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 1.3% from the preceding quarter. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) defines the Gross Domestic Product as a measurement of the goods and services produced in the United States or by each individual state. The BEA notes, “changes in GDP are the most popular indicator of the nation’s overall economic health.”
According to Maine’s Economists, “the industry sectors that contributed the most to Maine’s first quarter decline in GDP were retail trade, nondurable goods manufacturing, and finance and insurance, among others that declined. These losses were partially offset by gains in other industries such as government, real estate and rental and leasing, and utilities, among others that grew.”
Maine’s Labor Force Participation Rate continues to struggle as our June 2022 rate of 59% is unchanged from the previous quarter and 1.3% lower than the prior year. In October of 2021, Maine’s workforce participation fell below the national average for the first time in decades. The workforce participation rate is the percentage of the population that is either currently working at a job or is actively looking for work.
In spite of help wanted signs plastered across every business in Maine our workforce participation rate is down year-over-year. Maine is clearly not recuperating from the economic fallout resulting from the forced closure of our economy during the pandemic.
Maine’s poor workforce participation rates and loss of real GDP is a result of a series of abysmal public policy decisions coming out of Augusta. It is crucial Maine seeks a new path that rejects the expansion of government entitlements and instead promotes pathways and tools for Mainers to achieve self-sufficiency. Expanding our economy, increasing individual economic wealth, and getting people back to work only happens when our elected leaders promote pro-growth economic policies.