WASHINGTON, DC — Maine's immigrant population, though small, contributes to key industries in the state — from health care and manufacturing to aquaculture — and is poised to play an increasingly important role as the working-age population is projected to shrink, a comprehensive new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report reveals. The study, Maine’s Immigrant Communities: Diverse Origins, Characteristics, and Challenges, draws from analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data to offer a detailed demographic and socio-economic snapshot of the state’s approximately 53,000 immigrants. The MPI researchers also spoke with staff of nine immigrant-serving organizations in Maine to better understand the types of services a subset of immigrants needs. While Canadian immigrants have a notable presence in Maine due to a long history of movement across a shared border, others in the small foreign-born population (immigrants represent just 4 percent of state population as compared to 14 percent nationally) come from many parts of the world. Nearly half have lived in the United States for 20 years or more, one of the ways in which this group is distinct in characteristics compared to immigrants in other states and the United States overall. As Maine faces a projected 5.3 percent shrinkage in its working-age population from 2020 to 2030, immigrants represent a key workforce solution. However, gender disparities persist, with immigrant women experiencing lower employment rates and earnings compared to other groups — a key issue given that women make up 57 percent of the Maine immigrant population. Immigrants also experience more acutely the state’s housing shortages and limited public transportation. Drawing from analysis of 2019-2023 American Community Survey (ACS) data from the Census Bureau, the report also finds: - Immigrants are important to Maine's economic sustainability, with 45 percent of immigrants of prime working age (25-54), compared to 36 percent of U.S.-born residents.
- Unlike the state's overwhelmingly non-Latino White population, immigrants are far more diverse: 25 percent are from Asia, 24 percent from Europe, 20 percent from Africa, 19 percent from Northern America (primarily Canada) and 10 percent from Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Language proficiency and education are strong, with 76 percent of immigrants speaking English exclusively or very well, and immigrant men showing particularly high education levels: 43 percent holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, as compared to 32 percent for U.S.-born men.
“Maine provides an example of the positive impacts of immigrants’ strong integration within local communities,” analysts Valerie Lacarte and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh write. “The data show that although recent immigrants face greater language and income barriers, overall immigrants in Maine have high levels of educational attainment, employment, home ownership and English proficiency, and that they provide critical economic contributions as the state grapples with an aging population and shrinking U.S.-born workforce.” Still, they note, both newly arrived and long-settled immigrants in Maine often face barriers in terms of access to affordable housing, health care, transportation, legal assistance and culturally and linguistically responsive services. These challenges have motivated earlier generations of immigrants to build support systems that provide both long-term integration services and assistance for newly arrived immigrants. “Maine offers an example of an important question facing policymakers nationwide — how to manage broad policy challenges, such as housing and labor shortages, while simultaneously assisting communities in need of additional support, immigrant and U.S. born alike,” the report concludes. “This question becomes increasingly relevant as states navigate the changing national policy and funding landscape, including large-scale cuts to critical federal programs, increased immigration enforcement and instability in communities with large numbers of immigrants in liminal statuses (such as humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status) that the Trump administration seeks to end.”Top of Form Read the report here: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/maine-immigrant-communities. Bottom of Form |
