Maine s forest industry is going to have to replace as many as 850 jobs in the next few years and find workers for emerging sectors if the industry is going to grow by $4 billion, according to a new study of workforce needs.
And the industry will have to compete with other industries in the state for the expected 27,000 jobs that will have to be filled in the coming years, Ryan Wallace of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Muskie School of Public Service said at the Forest Opportunity Roadmap Summit on Friday.
Wallace presented the industry s latest workforce development strategy at the virtual conference, which was a halfway-point assessment of the FOR/Maine initiative. The initiative was launched in September 2018, and aims to grow the state s bio-economy from the $8.5 billion industry it is now to a $12 billion a year force in the state by 2025.
Eye on Augusta: Legislature Passes Tax Breaks for 28,000 Businesses and 160,000 Unemployed Workers
by Andy OâBrien (Photo: Dan Kirchoff)
Andy O’Brien is communications director at Maine AFL-CIO. He is a former managing editor of The Free Press and a former state legislator. His Eye on Augusta column appears every other week in The Free Press. Last Thursday, the Maine Legislature passed a supplemental budget package that will provide a full state tax exemption to federal Paycheck Protection (PPP) grants for 28,000 profitable businesses as well as tax breaks on the first $10,200 of federal unemployment benefits for 160,000 unemployed workers.
Republicans initially blocked the two-thirds votes necessary to pass the spending package in order to demand another $32 million in additional business tax cuts, including foreign-derived intangible income, to mirror the federal tax code. However, during floor debate, Republican leaders could not ex
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Don Burr, head instructor with Northern Maine Community College s mechanized logging program, watches as student Will Shufelt practices using a delimber machine at a woodlot in Chapman.
(Anthony Brino | BDN)
Don Burr, head instructor with Northern Maine Community College s mechanized logging program, watches as student Will Shufelt practices using a delimber machine at a woodlot in Chapman.
(Anthony Brino | BDN)
Mechanized Logging Operations Program recruiting students
Contributed • March 9, 2021 Recruiting is now underway for students in the Mechanized Logging Operations Program, which is beginning its next 12-week class June 21 in the woods northeast of Old Town.
Recruiting is now underway for students in the Mechanized Logging Operations Program, which is beginning its next 12-week class June 21 in the woods northeast of Old Town.
Mechanized Logging Operations Program recruiting students fiddleheadfocus.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fiddleheadfocus.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Maine Department of Labor says federal laws would have to change before it could set up a system to benefit workers who are not covered by state unemployment insurance.