Maine Gov. Janet Mills and a state lawmaker who immigrated from Somalia unveiled a proposal on Friday to attempt to resolve the state’s severe employee scarcity by tapping swiftly rising immigrant communities.
Maine historically has had among the many smallest immigrant populations within the nation. In response to the 2020 U.S. Census, solely about 4% of the state’s residents had been born outdoors the U.S.
That has been regularly altering as tens of 1000’s of residents descended from Somalia and different African international locations have made houses in Portland and Lewiston, two of the state’s greatest cities. These arrivals helped push up the share of foreign-born residents by a couple of proportion level between 2000 to 2022, based on census figures.
Gov. Janet Mills speaks at her inauguration ceremony, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023, on the Civic Heart in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photograph/Robert F. Bukaty)
The Workplace of New People is proposed in a invoice by state Rep. Deqa Dhalac, the primary Somali immigrant to turn into mayor of a U.S. metropolis in 2021, when she took workplace in South Portland. She was elected to the Maine Legislature final 12 months. Dhalac and Mills say the invoice would handle shortages in vital industries together with well being care, training and building.
“Improving how Maine introduces and integrates New Americans into its communities and economy is viewed as one key strategy to address the state’s workforce needs, as attracting and retaining new workers is a priority for Maine’s economic future,” they stated in a information launch.
Beneath Dhalac’s invoice, among the many new workplace’s main actions can be offering pathways for immigrant staff to acquire skilled accreditation and licenses. The workplace would even be accountable for “engaging with businesses to increase employment, retention and advancement of immigrant employees,” the proposal states.
The invoice is due for a public listening to on Jan. 30.
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Not less than 18 different states have places of work or employees targeted on bringing immigrants into the workforce, together with in New England, the place officers are dealing with housing shortages whereas attempting to welcome rising numbers of immigrants fleeing their homelands for the Northeast.
