Not all Maine workers benefiting from pandemic boost in power

Maine is seeing a robust economic recovery from the COVID-19 downturn, but that good news hides ongoing weaknesses among the state’s workers, a new report released Tuesday found.

The number of people working in Maine in August was just 1 percent below pre-pandemic levels and real GDP was 4 percent higher as of the first quarter of 2022, the report by the liberal Maine Center for Economic Policy said. That has boosted businesses, but not all workers are benefitting.

“The major development characterizing Maine’s economy in 2022 is a revival of worker power to an extent not seen in many decades,” James Myall, an economic policy analyst at the center and author of the report, said. “Workers deemed essential during the pandemic are realizing their value and that they can demand better conditions.”

Click here to read the full story, first published October 19, 2022 in the Bangor Daily News.