Maine is no stranger to the working poor.

Take, for example, a family of three with one average wage earner. In 2003, the official poverty threshold for a family of three was $15,000. The average Maine wage earner – based on per capita income – makes $19,533.

So a family of three with one average wage earner in Maine would not be making much more than the poverty level. But most economists say a family of three actually needs about $30,000 in today’s economy to meet their basic needs.

Another example: The Maine Center for Economic Policy estimates that a livable wage for a single parent with one child in Maine is nearly $14 an hour. That’s more than twice the current minimum wage and nearly two-and-a-half times the federal poverty level.

Such examples are not hard to find. The number of working families struggling in Maine has increased, experts say, and the rise can be tracked back more than 30 years.

According to an analysis by MECEP, the rise of the working poor began in the 1970s and accelerated during the 1980s when the state began to lose manufacturing jobs and see a corresponding increase in lower-wage service jobs.

From 1982 to 2000, Maine lost 22 percent of its manufacturing jobs. Those jobs had an average weekly wage of $680 in 2000. Over that same period, there was a 72 percent increase in retail sales jobs. They had an average weekly wage of $323 in 2000.

A jobs forecast released by the federal government in June predicts most job growth through 2012 will be in lower-paying fields such as service and retail. The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t have a state-by-state projection yet, but it links to a Web site that does.

According to Projects Central, the jobs expected to grow the most through 2010 in Maine are: personal and home care aides; registered nurses; home health aides; food prep and service; social and human service assistants; cashiers; customer service reps; clerks; computer support specialists; and post-secondary teachers.

end with a quote from Kit St. John? ////Sure.