AUGUSTA, Maine (BDN) -- Nearly 1 in 6 Maine state jobs are unfilled, due partially to a wider labor shortage that is running into fraught negotiations between Gov. Janet Mills’ administration and the top state employees' union.
The employment upheaval that marked the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the public sector. By the middle of 2022, the number of U.S. private-sector jobs recovered to its pre-pandemic mark, while 664,000 fewer Americans were employed in state and local government.
Just over 2,100 of Maine’s 13,000 authorized jobs in the executive branch were unfilled on March 1. Vacancies are hitting high-profile areas of government, with 68 empty caseworker positions in the embattled child welfare system, nearly 200 unfilled positions for workers who maintain roads and 20 vacant state trooper spots.
There have been ramifications on state services. Early this winter, the Maine Department of Transportation said snow-fighting crews were 20 percent below optimal levels. A child welfare caseworker told lawmakers in February that she was handling 16 cases at once, four above a federal recommendation. Union workers have cited pay as a major factor.
The 12 state snow-plowing routes in the Bangor area are being handled by 17 workers, David Boudreau of Holden, a transportation worker, said. He makes $19 per hour on a crew with an average age of 56, saying it is getting harder for many of them to sustain long...
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