CEI Report: How Immigrants Can Strengthen Maine’s Economy

March 16, 2016–CEI’s new report, Building Maine’s Economy: How Maine Can Welcome Immigrants and Strengthen the Workforce, looks at how Maine can leverage the valuable human capital that immigrants bring to Maine. Maine is currently at 3.8% unemployment, and needs to replace its aging and retiring workforce. Immigrants are one of a number of groups of unemployed or underemployed Mainers who could contribute more to their communities if given an opportunity to work at their full potential. The report reviews Maine’s demographic and labor trends and the characteristics of Maine’s immigrant population, and identifies the a number of key employment barriers that immigrants must overcome to fully integrate into the workforce. It recommends that the state develop a strategic plan to attract, integrate and retain immigrants as a component of Maine’s economic development strategy.