As far as age demographics, the foreign-born population tends to be slightly older than the native-born population, with a median age of 46.5 compared with the state’s median age of 44.2 for the U.S.-born population, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Businesses tapping into immigrant labor pool

For Maine businesses, the data cited by economists is reflected in day-to-day operations, and these businesses are reacting to their workforce challenges by turning to immigrants.

“You can see the situation for yourself. Just drive around and look at the number of ‘We’re Hiring’ signs out there,” says Katz, who co-sponsored LD 1492, a 2018 bill (which failed to make it out of the Appropriations Committee) that would have provided support such as increased English language learning resources for immigrants in the workplace. “It’s literally hitting everybody in the face every day. People don’t put those ‘Help Wanted’ signs out unless they are desperate. A lot of this shows in the data that people like me look at long before it hits the streets. But now that it has hit the streets, everybody can see it.”

In fact, many Maine companies already are heavily dependent on immigrant workers. Without them, company managers say they couldn’t meet current workforce needs or expand.

For example, Ready Seafood, one of Maine’s largest lobster-processing companies, now has a workforce of more than 200 in Portland and Scarborough that’s more than half foreign born. Faced with a scarcity of new workers from traditional help-wanted postings, the company has found success by recruiting immigrants.

“About three years ago, there was really a big shift in the employment market,” says CEO Brian Skoczenski. “There was a combination of things that led to the shortage of workers, including drug use. It really opened up our eyes that we needed to look in different directions for employment. Before, when we posted on Craigslist, we would get one or two people in here. But that kind of went away, and we started to get one or no responses. It made us rethink how we were staffing. I reached out to the city of Portland, and they got me in touch with the general assistance program. The first time I asked for a couple of people to see how it would work. The next time they brought in around 27 (immigrants). That was an eye opener for us.”

Ready Seafood has now developed a pipeline for new workers, making the time-consuming task of recruitment easier.

“The pipeline (to potential immigrant workers) is organic,” says Skoczenski. “We haven’t posted a job for over a year. Every time we have an opening, an immigrant employee comes to us and asks if so-and-so can come in and interview. It has allowed us to concentrate on growing our business rather than making sure the day-to-day is getting done.”

Without the immigrant workforce there is no company, there’s no revenue.

Ben Waxman, co-owner of American Roots, the Westbrook clothing manufacturer, echoes Skoczenski’s comment about the importance of immigrants to his company’s survival.

“Without the immigrant workforce there is no company, there’s no revenue,” says Waxman, who has 24 employees and plans to expand.

Maine businesses aren’t alone in accessing the immigrant workforce. All of northern New England’s workforce is aging.

“Businesses now know that we are in competition with other states because every state is aging,” says the Maine Business Immigration Coalition’s Stickney. “At the national level both the economist community and the mainstream business community are aware that there is an absolute crisis in our workforce. In Maine, we’re pretty famous for saying we are the oldest state in the nation, but the reality is that other states are only a year or two behind us in terms of the median age. The whole country is graying. The birth rate is down for the entire country, and the unemployment rate is low. So, you have companies that want to grow, but where are we going to get our talent?”

To make it easier for businesses to connect with immigrants and to help coordinate services, the city of Portland created the Portland Office of Economic Opportunity in 2017. Run by Julia Trujillo, its mission is to help integrate immigrants into the economy so that businesses can connect with potential employees.

(Hiring immigrants) is an extremely overwhelming idea because of the unknown. Small business gets so bogged down and stretched so thin. We need to make it easier for them and to help them understand. There needs to be more outreach to business. Unless it is easy, businesses aren’t going to do it, and unless they see the benefits, they aren’t going to do it.

Skoczenski points to the office as the source of Ready Seafood’s recruitment success: “Julia is the only reason this program is working for us. She is the driving force. She reached out (to potential workers) and literally the next day it was like an on switch (for applications).”

Trujillo says part of her role is to identify gaps and to help organizations “work collectively better,” making Portland an attractive landing place for immigrants who want to work and for businesses who want to hire them.

“It shocked me that many other states (like Kentucky) are fighting for the same workforce,” says Trujillo. “Kentucky is putting a great effort into immigrant integration to make sure they are retaining everyone in their state and also attracting others to their state – targeting secondary migrants (immigrants who initially settled everywhere). Many states are fighting for these people. That’s why it’s so important to get this right and show advantages beyond our quality of life.”

Despite a need for employees, employers are sometimes hesitant to turn to the immigrant community because of a lack of knowledge about this pool of workers and fear that taking on a foreign-born workforce will be too complicated.

Skoczenski sees Trujillo’s office as an example of how city and state organizations can reduce such employer concerns and make the hiring process more attractive.

“Businesses use the resources that are already there,” says Skoczenski. “(Hiring immigrants) is an extremely overwhelming idea because of the unknown. Small business gets so bogged down and stretched so thin. We need to make it easier for them and to help them understand. There needs to be more outreach to business. Unless it is easy, businesses aren’t going to do it, and unless they see the benefits, they aren’t going to do it.”

Immigrants can play a significant role in addressing Maine’s workforce challenge. Maine’s history makes the case for the importance and impact of immigrants on this state.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce has become a leading voice in supporting an increased role for immigrants in the workforce – a direction that diverges from current Trump administration policies toward reducing legal immigration to the United States and making the process of employing foreign workers more onerous.

“Immigrants can play a significant role in addressing Maine’s workforce challenge,” says Dana Connors, president of the chamber. “Maine’s history makes the case for the importance and impact of immigrants on this state.”

Connors notes that discussions about “legal” immigrants in the workforce often are derailed by the polarizing national debates over immigrants who are in the country illegally.

“Polarization brings confusion to the issues,” he says. “DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and other efforts (involving issues surrounding immigrants who are in the country illegally) add more confusion. It’s contradictory to what we know (about the importance of legal immigrants in the workforce.) There are enough barriers now – the polarization doesn’t help.”

Overcoming these barriers are at the core of efforts to connect Maine employers with an underused labor pool.