Scientist at Work in the Jackson Laboratory, photograph by John Clarke Russ, Bar Harbor, Maine, 2010. Courtesy of the Bangor Daily News.
In this final panel, an older worker hands a sledgehammer to young workers, representing the passing of one generation of workers and the rise of a new, young generation. There is uncertainty, a little anxiety, and some hope in the faces of the new workers. What will their jobs be in the new Maine?
They probably won’t need that sledgehammer. Manufacturing, mining, and forestry, once representing 40% of employment in Maine, are now down to about 9%. Today health care, government, and tourism and hospitality, to name just three employment sectors, account for almost 45% of Maine’s workers.
The fastest growth today is in health care and social assistance, tourism and hospitality, professional services, transportation and utilities, construction, and educational services. We can’t fully predict what employment in Maine will be like in 50 years, but some trends are clear: we are heading towards providing more human care and leisure services. Investments in education are necessary to support new ways of thinking and new technologies.