Jobs and Income Nearly 86,000 Mainers at risk of losing unemployment benefits in less than a month Unless Congress acts quickly, the expiration of temporary federal expansions to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system will push almost 86,000 Mainers off an economic cliff in early […] James Myall Posted August 4, 2021 Tags Coronavirus, Economic Security, Federal, Unemployment, Wages
Jobs and Income Maine’s Worker shortage has deep roots As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes in Maine, business-owners have begun to raise a new economic concern as they report difficulty hiring workers to fill vacancies. These concerns […] James Myall Posted June 10, 2021 Tags Coronavirus, Employment, Job Quality, Jobs, Unemployment
Jobs and Income Complex worker shortage problem strains businesses, employees in central Maine James Myall, policy analyst for the Maine Center for Economic Policy, said the availability of workers depends on the industry. He does not think the extra unemployment […] Yahoo! News Posted May 22, 2021 Tags Coronavirus, Employment, Job Quality, Unemployment
Maine’s Economy Transformative “American Rescue Plan” will deliver $6 billion to Maine’s economy The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act recently approved by Congress will deliver roughly $6 billion to Maine’s economy, according to recent MECEP analysis. The top initiatives that will support Maine’s economic […] James Myall Posted April 2, 2021 Tags Children, Coronavirus, Economic Security, Economy, Education, EITC, Federal, Housing, Infrastructure, K-12 Education, SNAP, Taxes, Unemployment
Jobs and Income The pandemic is pushing many Mainers into new lines of work The pandemic had already erased 3 out of every 5 jobs in the hospitality and leisure industry by last April, according to the Maine Center for Economic […] Bangor Daily News Posted March 3, 2021 Tags Jobs, Unemployment
Maine’s Economy With pandemic hardship as high as ever, Congress must move quickly on COVID relief The COVID-19 public health and economic crisis is bigger than any seen in our lifetimes, leaving tens of thousands of Mainers struggling to work, feed their families, and keep a roof over their […] James Myall Posted February 17, 2021 Tags Coronavirus, Economic Security, Economy, Federal, Food Insecurity, Housing, Unemployment
Jobs and Income, Maine’s Economy Maine sees slowing jobs recovery as families face ongoing pandemic hardship After a wave of initial improvement in the summer, Maine’s jobs recovery appears to have slowed as 2020 draws to a close, according to recently released state and federal data […] James Myall Posted December 22, 2020 Tags Coronavirus, Economic Security, Jobs, Unemployment
Maine’s Economy Bipartisan plan from Collins, King represents a better start for COVID relief than GOP ‘skinny’ bill Tens of thousands of Mainers continue to face hardship during the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis and will face an even bleaker winter if Congress does not pass a new round of […] James Myall Posted December 3, 2020 Tags Coronavirus, Economic Security, Federal, Food Insecurity, Housing, Revenue, Unemployment
Jobs and Income ‘People are in survival mode’: Unemployed Mainers face financial cliff as benefits end Picard said the program was ended because the average insured unemployment rate for the last 13 weeks in Maine fell below five percent. By law, the program […] Beacon Posted November 19, 2020 Tags Coronavirus, Unemployment
Jobs and Income Most unemployed Mainers will lose benefits as virus spikes The majority of people on unemployment — about 29,600, according to the Maine Department of Labor — will lose benefits when federal programs expire on Dec. 26. […] Bangor Daily News Posted November 17, 2020 Tags Coronavirus, Federal, Unemployment