Category Archives: Economy
Two maps that show the promise of Maine’s forest industry
Two maps make consultant Eric Kingsley optimistic about the future of Maine’s forest products industry. The first shows the world’s forests. The second shows the lights of the world at night. “There’s one spot and only one spot — and we’re part of it — where forests and markets are on top of each other,” Kingsley said during […]
Health care industry gave a big boost to Maine earnings last year
How Maine fuel assistance funds have changed since 2013
While Bangor, Lewiston and Skowhegan stand to be hardest hit by losing federal heating assistance funds, the amounts given out to individual towns has already been on the decline in recent years. [Bangor would be hardest-hit by Trump cuts to heating aid] Figures from the Maine State Housing Authority show how those amounts have changed from 2013 to 2016, by individual […]
The drones are multiplying. Maine gained 845 hobby aircraft last year
Since last May, Maine hobbyist drone fliers have registered another 845 unmanned aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration, the bulk of those in the southern parts of the state. The latest figures from the FAA show the state had 2,644 registered hobby drones as of Feb. 3, 2017, up from 1,799 as of May 12, 2016. That’s a nearly 50 […]
Handgun demand in Maine hit all-time high last year
Demand for handguns in Maine hit an all-time high last year, with more background checks requested in 2016 than any year in the nearly two decades prior. Federal statistics logged 48,845 background check requests for handgun purchases in 2016, though the trend appears to be tapering off. Handgun background check requests spiked sharply in December […]
How Trumpy is your town?
President Donald Trump’s victory touched fault lines and upended expectations in American politics. There were some signs of that in Maine. For instance, many areas that voted for raising the minimum wage also chose Trump. So did towns that approved legalizing marijuana. (Trump and both measures won in 49 towns, and one or the other won in 90 towns. See all of those towns here.) Those dynamics […]
Maine’s economy pivots to quick growth in first quarter
Maine’s economy grew at the ninth-fastest rate in the country during the first quarter of 2016, turning around a steep decline in the same quarter one year earlier. The mostly nonexistent Maine winter likely helped speed growth in real gross domestic product, which trailed only New Hampshire’s for the first quarter, according to figures released Wednesday from the U.S. […]
How many in Maine have left the office behind? Have you?
A new group launching in Portland this week hopes to get better information about the group of people who, generally, don’t work out of the same building as their boss. Broadly, that means people who can work from pretty much anywhere with an internet connection. Ryan Wallace, director of the Muskie School’s Center for Business and Economic Research, says there’s not good information […]
On jobs, compare your community with the neighbors
The Maine Department of Labor has published a new look at annual unemployment data, letting users zero in on a specific area of the state and its neighboring communities. Follow the steps in the interactive map below to see annual unemployment rates for specific communities and the surrounding areas. For reference, the statewide average unemployment rate for 2015 was […]