Maine’s population is getting older. So what?

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    About every three months or so, usually during a slow news week, someone either conducts a study or writes an article about us old folks dragging down the economy in Maine.
    Recently, House Speaker Mark Eves convened a forum on aging at the University of Southern Maine and one of the guest speakers was Charles Colgan, who has been predicting the graying of Maine for about 30 years.

    I don’t know how old Colgan is, but I suspect he isn’t asked for an ID when he picks up a six-pack at the supermarket. I remember calling the professor for comments on other issues when I worked for the Farmington radio station in the 1970s.
    Anyhow, Eves’ Roundtable on Aging – sometimes I wish they’d have square table forums – decried how young people are leaving Maine in droves to seek better job opportunities. However, few are moving here and even fewer babies are being born. Thus, our local drugstores will probably be selling more Depends than Pampers in a few years.
    Like previous study grounds, panels and blue-ribbon commissioners, Eves’ roundtable is long on rhetoric and short on solutions.
    The theory, of course, is that the number of wagon riders in Maine will soon outnumber the wagon-pullers, thus causing the already-fragile economy to fall into a sinkhole.
    So let’s take a breath and look at reality. Yes, Maine is getting grayer and there are fewer school-age children around. Many young people see the limited jobs in their hometown after graduation and head south for greater opportunities and bigger bucks.
    So who fills the job openings in Maine that the 20-somethings are turning down? You guessed it: the gray-haired gang. The manager of a supermarket near my home hires senior citizens all the time because he says they’re reliable and make good first impressions. Plus, they don’t show up for job interviews dressed like they’re making a dump run.
    Old timers spend money. They don’t hesitate to volunteer, either. You see them in our hospitals, Legion posts, Masonic lodges, literary clubs and schools. Some get up at 3 a.m. to greet returning troops at Bangor International Airport while others deliver Meals on Wheels.
    The problem of keeping young people in a cold, Northeast state where most manufacturing went south or overseas isn’t new and the solutions aren’t easy.
    Maine’s infatuation as a tourist destination has transformed the state into a service economy.
    But we still need schoolteachers, engineers, programmers and health care specialists. In addition, skilled plumbers, carpenters and auto mechanics are often in short supply.
    It will take more than a few years to turn our economy around and convince young people that Maine is a place to stay, rather than a place they came from.
    In the meantime, let’s not be too concerned about the graying of Maine. The Polygrip generation will hold its own.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.