AUGUSTA — Congress took an unprecedented step earlier this year by authorizing a pilot program allowing use of unemployment benefits to subsidize the creation of full-time jobs, but it’s unlikely Maine employers will be able to participate in the program. “No doubt it might very well put people back to work,” said Maine Labor Commissioner […]
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Posted inBusiness, Nation / World, sj-web
TransCanada gets OK for south part of oil pipeline
HOUSTON (AP) — A Canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands region to Texas refineries has received a final permit for the Gulf Coast portion of the project and announced Friday that construction on the 485-mile section would start in the coming weeks. President Barack Obama encouraged TransCanada to […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Obama: Congress, Europe must stem economic crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy at risk, President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Friday of pursuing policies that would weaken the U.S. recovery. He simultaneously urged Europe’s leaders to prevent an overseas debt crisis from dragging down the rest of the world. At a White House news conference five months before Election Day, the president […]
Posted inBusiness, Nation / World, sj-web
U.S. employers waiting and watching before hiring
NEW YORK (AP) — Business has picked up. Yet American companies are too nervous to step up hiring. The economy seems so gripped by uncertainties that many employers have decided to manage with the staff they have. They aren’t convinced their customer demand will keep growing. Or they worry that Europe’s festering debt crisis could […]
Posted inBusiness, Nation / World, sj-web
Jobs report weakens Obama’s election argument
The economy, Obama conceded Friday, “is not growing as fast as we want it to.” Taking a harsher tone, presumed Republican rival Mitt Romney declared that the country appeared to be “moving backward.” He sought to drive home a political point from the nation’s first increase in joblessness in almost a year. After a winter […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage touts accomplishments in first 500 days
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Regardless of what critics might say, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has done much of what he promised he’d do, pushing through tax cuts, reducing the state pension fund shortfall, paying back money owed to hospitals, and cutting Medicaid benefits that he said were too generous. And he’s commemorating his accomplishments in […]
Posted inBusiness, Maine, sj-web
Maine jobless rate holds steady at 7.2 percent
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s labor department says the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in April, which was unchanged from March and down from 7.7 percent a year ago. Commissioner Robert Winglass said Friday that 51,200 Mainers were jobless last month, down 3,000 from the same month last year. Maine’s unemployment rate […]
Posted inBusiness, Maine, sj-web
BIW, Machinists Union reach tentative deal
BATH, Maine (AP) — The Machinists union says a tentative agreement at Bath Iron Works would give most workers annual pay increases of 2.25 percent to 2.75 percent for the next four years. Machinists spokesman John Carr on Friday provided highlights of the four-year pact that will be voted on by 3,200 Local S6 members […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Millinocket gets glimpse of ‘game-changing technology’ that will create jobs at former mill site
MILLINOCKET — The $35 million torrefied wood machine slated for Katahdin Avenue would be at least as quiet and odor-free as the paper mill it would go next to, a representative of its New Hampshire-based developer said Thursday. Cate Street Capital project manager Dammon M. Frecker spoke publicly for the first time about his company’s […]
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Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce: It’s all about jobs
“Better than Twitter,” is one description of the role of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce in the process of connecting job seekers with those searching for qualified employees. The biggest local chamber of commerce in Maine, with nearly 1,400 members representing some 45,000 employees, the Androscoggin Chamber provides a robust schedule of activities, programs […]