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Saturday, April 18, 2026

Where have all the workers gone? And when will they return? - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel

. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
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First of five parts

  • Today: Where have all the workers gone?
  • Sept. 11: The great retirement
  • Sept. 18: The immigration solution
  • Sept. 25: Rise of the robots
  • Oct. 2: How can the crisis be solved?

On a bright June afternoon recruiters for about 10 health care companies lined the hallway at the Portland Career Center.

They sat behind folding tables piled high with job applications, and advertisements for training, professional development and signing bonuses. Pens, water bottles, stress balls and other freebies were arranged to lure job seekers for dozens of empty positions.

Over the course of a few hours, just a trickle of workers came through. Recruiters and human resources managers worked on laptops, scrolled on their cellphones or chatted with each other to pass the time.

“It is not an employer’s market – it is an employee’s market,” said Denise Jodoin-Gaidis, operations manager at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders.

Jodoin-Gaidis has spent hours and hours at recent job fairs, desperately hiring therapists for individuals with autism. The result is the same – only a few job seekers and almost no applicants. The likelihood of hiring someone is slim, but she shows up to fairs anyway.

“Even if you just get your name out there, there might be someone who considers a position,” Jodoin-Gaidis said.

Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
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Two years after an unemployment tsunami threw 1 in 10 Maine workers out of...



Read Full Story: https://www.centralmaine.com/2022/09/04/where-have-all-the-workers-gone-and-w...