It sounds strange to say it, but Maine has both a shortage of workers and a shortage of jobs.

The problem, according to a story in Sunday’s Sun Journal, is a mismatch between the skills of existing workers and those required for success in our new high-tech economy. 

It’s a national problem, but it is of particular concern in Maine.

In New England, 47 percent of adults have a postsecondary education, according to the Compact for Higher Education. In Maine, only 39 percent have training beyond high school.

Of all the hurdles faced by businesses in Maine — high taxes, high utility rates, distance from major markets — a lack of qualified workers is a true deal-breaker.

You simply can’t open a business if you can’t find the people to run the machinery or write the software code.

If Maine could simply wave people into advanced training programs we would have done so by now.

But Maine’s other distinct disadvantage is our relatively high cost of higher education.

According to a recent Associated Press analysis, the great untold story of the past decade is the way we have increasingly shifted the burden of higher education back to individuals and families. 

There was a time in America when only the sons and daughters of the wealthy could afford college.

But the GI bill changed all that in the late 1940s. Millions of men and women obtained college degrees for free in return for their service in World War II. 

It was a generous gift from a grateful nation.

It was also the best investment our country ever made. Those workers took us from a heavily rural, agrarian society to an urban industrial powerhouse that dominated the world in every manufacturing category.

But the idea that higher education is of a collective benefit to our nation is becoming little more than a hazy memory.

Over the past 10 years, all 50 states have gradually shifted more of the cost of funding higher education to students and families.

State support for higher education rose 6 percent in the 1980s and 5 percent in the 1990s. But between 2000 and 2010, state support fell 23 percent after accounting for inflation, according to the College Board.

Middle-income families with high aspirations for their children have been particularly hard hit. Each year, they are taking on more and more debt.

Among college seniors who took out college loans, the average 2011 grad left school $25,250 in debt, according to the College Access & Success Project on Student Debt.

And here’s the real shocker: New Hampshire students had the highest level of debt, $31,048, but Maine students were right behind them, $29,983.

Experts quoted in a story Sunday said many Mainers are simply unaware of the high tech jobs available.

That may be so. But we also wonder how many of the unemployed and underemployed, who may be facing other financial pressures including foreclosure, can afford to upgrade their skills. 

For them, it may be a choice between putting dinner on the table today and training for a better job tomorrow.

It’s hard to see us solving that problem quickly or easily with a state government facing annual pressure to cut costs.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.