Category Archives: Wages

How do Maine’s Metro Areas do in attracting College Grads?

WHILE the evidence of a skills gap in Maine remains questionable at best, the state does face longer-term structural problems regarding its aging population.  While the aging population is not the primary problem with the current state of Maine’s economy and labor market, these long-term problems cannot be ignored either.  In order to replace the […]

College Student Loan Debt: A Tale of Two Time Periods

THE Brookings Institute released a study earlier this week arguing that “the impact of student loans may not be as dire as many commentators fear.”  The authors of the study arrive at this conclusion by examining data from the Federal Reserve tracking student loan debt between 1989 and 2010.  Their key findings include: Roughly one-quarter […]

Education as Economic Policy

ELIOT Cutler rolled out his plan to increase funding and overhaul the state’s education system as a means to promote economic growth.  As reported by the PPH: “States that are doing well economically are almost always the states that consistently have made investments in education, from early childhood through elementary and high school, to post […]