AUGUSTA – With the nation’s oldest population, Maine faces some of the most daunting economic challenges that are shared throughout New England.

New England Council leader James Brett warns that the region’s employers will become increasingly dependent on older workers – those aged 55 and above – to meet the demand for skilled workers as the six states’ work force grows older.

“The ability to retain and recapture those older workers in the labor force will be critical to the long-term economic prosperity of the region. This is particularly significant in Maine,” Brett wrote in a report last November for the council, an alliance of business companies, colleges and universities, nonprofit and other agencies. The New England Council also released studies earlier this year on the aging work force in Connecticut and New Hampshire as part of its Older Worker Initiative.

Policy analysts in Maine examining demographic factors agree and state officials say efforts are under way to smooth the transition.

This summer, Maine’s State Planning Office published a paper assessing the consequences of population trends.

One conclusion: adjustments are needed across the social horizon.

“There are a number of issues Maine will need to address including encouraging and enabling older workers to continue in the work force; improving public services for the elderly, especially transportation and health care; and developing more ‘elderly-friendly’ communities and workplaces,” the report said.

Other states, including New York and Pennsylvania, have undertaken initiatives that respond to anticipated demographic changes, the report said.

And Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman views the changing work force picture in a positive light.

“We’ve got a lot of talented people out there,” Fortman told The Associated Press. “It’s not a bad news kind of thing. There’s opportunity there.”

Maine’s future is gray.

Already the state with the nation’s oldest median age, Maine will see its elderly population nearly double between 2000 and 2030, the state planning office says.

And as Maine’s older population increases, its younger population is decreasing.

Drawing on an array of studies, the planning office survey says the western and southern regions of the country are the only regions projected to see increases in their population of 18-44 year olds while other regions, including the Northeast, expect declines in the 18-44 population between 2000 and 2030.

Maine’s median age of 41.2 is almost 5 years above the national median and about 13 years higher than in Utah, the state with the youngest population.

Bolstering Fortman’s view, the planning office survey says population aging can “undoubtedly create new opportunities for Maine businesses, nonprofit organizations, and communities at large.”

For instance, an increase in older residents could stimulate demand for certain services and healthy retirees could boost volunteerism that benefits communities.

“However, there are still a number of issues for which Maine, along with the rest of the country, will have to prepare,” the survey notes. “Population aging leads to concerns over labor pool shortages, declines in output, increased demand for elder services, and funding for public services and benefits.”

Maine was one of eight states chosen to participate in the National Governors Association’s Civic Engagement Policy Academy, which was held in Annapolis, Md., in July.

Topics included how to increase employment and volunteer opportunities for older persons.

Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wyoming were also selected to participate and the work group will continue to meet during the year, according to the director of community programs for Maine’s Office of Elder Services, Mary Walsh.

On the labor side, some believe business interest in older workers may be matched by the interest of older workers in staying on the job – that is, some job.

In a report for the Blaine House Conference on Aging a year ago, Charles Colgan of the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine said that will come about because “there will no longer be a bright line” between work and retirement.

“It is very likely that many people who have reached the traditional retirement age of 65 will remain in the work force for an extended period of time, either by remaining in their ‘pre-retirement’ jobs or by retiring from their current employment and entering into a period of ‘quasi-retirement’ in which they undertake other employment,” Colgan wrote.

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