State's 'brain drain' impossible to ignore ; Opportunity is the key to keeping more young Mainers from moving away.

Portland Press Herald (Maine)
11-27-2006
State's 'brain drain' impossible to ignore ; Opportunity is the key to keeping more young Mainers from moving away.
Edition: FINAL
Section: Editorial

A new report issued last week by the University of Maine has revived the perennial debate over the notion that Maine has trouble retaining its college graduates.

Almost 74 percent of the Class of 2005 had found full-time employment, according to the university's Office of Institutional Studies. Nearly two-thirds of those full-time workers elected to stay in Maine, continuing a recent trend.
That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Indeed, many headlines summarized the findings by saying that the state's "brain drain" was overstated.

But the numbers reveal a sobering arithmetic: Almost nine in 10 of the university system's students are Maine residents. Only 50 percent of graduates get full-time jobs and stay.

That's nothing to cheer about.

The state's elite liberal arts schools, Bowdoin, Bates and Colby, average only about 10 percent in-state enrollment. If half of our own kids are leaving to pursue opportunities elsewhere, where are we going to find young people to keep our state vibrant?

Maine is increasingly popular as a place to live - despite a flagging rural economy - for retirees and professionals willing to trade a portion of their income for a better quality of life. This represents a brain gain.

But Maine lost 42,000 young adult workers from 1992 to 2002. There's no positive spin to put on that number.

A society's future is embodied by its youth. Maine is already the oldest state in the country. The longer our economic prospects flag, the more likely our young people will leave.

There are things Maine can do to improve its economic prospects. Paring fat in school administration and state government, as a recent Brookings Institution Report suggests, is only a start.

Investing in education, like our thriving community college system, will cost money but help fill existing jobs in-state that are begging for workers.

Long-term infrastructure projects, like rural broadband Internet access and construction of an east-west regional highway, could help bring opportunities to our rural tier.

So might a unified state strategy to market our tourism economy, which will soon see the arrival of several new or refurbished resorts.

Creating alternative uses for wood fiber to keep our working forests working should also be a priority.

The surest way to combat brain drain is to give our college graduates every reason to want to stay.

Copyright 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.