Posted inBusiness, sj-web

BIW to lay off 42 workers next month

BATH — Bath Iron Works will lay off 42 employees effective Oct. 11, the company confirmed Friday. The layoffs affect insulators and pipe coverers. Dan Dowling, president of Local S6 of the Machinists union, which has approximately 3,400 members, said Friday morning that he had just received official notification of the layoff — the second […]

Posted inLocal & State

Maine gubernatorial campaigns trade jabs over jobs claim

AUGUSTA — Maine’s top Republican leaders and a top political consultant for Gov. Paul LePage’s re-election campaign launched a salvo of complaints this week regarding a statement U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud made on jobs in a campaign ad issued earlier in September. Michaud, a Democrat, is running for governor and said the state, under LePage, […]

advertisement
Posted inBusiness, sj-web

What the statistics tell us about Maine’s economy

If you listen to Gov. Paul LePage and his Republican allies, they’ll tell you Maine’s economy has turned a corner. Businesses are creating jobs, more people are working and fewer people are living below the poverty threshold. Fewer Mainers are dependent on government programs to get by. Sounds like Maine’s economy has recovered, right? But listen to […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

Maine unemployment rate rises — barely

Maine’s unemployment rate went up a little to 7 percent in Augusta. It was reported at 6.9 percent in July. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated 50,000 were unemployed in Maine, down 1,700 over the year. Also, there were 602,600 nonfarm payroll jobs in August. That too has barely changed since July. The unemployment rate […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

LePage: Three out-of-state companies to visit Maine

AUGUSTA (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage said three out-of-state companies are visiting Maine this month because they’re interested in doing business here. The Republican governor said on Tuesday that the visits came out of meetings he had with companies at the U.S. Manufacturing Summit last month hosted by Walmart and the National Retail Federation in […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

Jet overhaul company to relocate operations to Brunswick

BRUNSWICK — A retired Navy pilot is relocating part of his business from Virginia to the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. It took less than a month to seal the deal with Tempus Jets, said Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. The company’s CEO, Scott Terry, was familiar with the base because […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

BIW to lay off 40 shipyard workers

BATH — Bath Iron Works on Thursday confirmed that the company would lay off 40 employees effective Sept. 6. The layoffs — 15 pipe coverers and 25 insulators — are due to a lack of work for those particular trades, BIW spokesman Jim DeMartini said. Specific employees will be notified next week. “The layoffs (Thursday) […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

New jobs disproportionately low-pay or part-time

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 162,000 jobs the economy added in July were a disappointment. The quality of the jobs was even worse. A disproportionate number of the added jobs were part-time or low-paying — or both. Part-time work accounted for more than 65 percent of the positions employers added in July. Low-paying retailers, restaurants and […]

Posted inLewiston-Auburn

Poland reviews plans for municipal center complex

POLAND — About 40 residents gathered at the steamy Town Hall on Thursday evening to view two alternative conceptual master plans for Poland’s Municipal Center complex. The recent acquisition of the McConaghy property between the Town Hall and the Ricker Memorial Library means the town now owns all the frontage on Route 26 from the […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

LePage says latest unemployment numbers show his policies are working

AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage touted the fact that Maine’s unemployment rate in June remained at 6.8 percent, which is the lowest since the recession struck in November 2008, as an indication that his fiscal policies are boosting Maine’s private sector. LePage said new data show the unemployment rate stood at 6.8 percent in […]