Bureau/Division/Agency
Governor
Document Type
Sound
Exact Creation Date
8-30-2013
Duration
00:02:55
Language
English
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Description
In three years, Maine has experienced a declining unemployment rate, and our Administration is working nationally and within Maine to promote job creation.
Hello, this is Governor Paul LePage.
Hundreds of new jobs have been announced during the last month, and last week we attended the U.S. Manufacturing Summit in Florida, where my administration met with companies who are interested in expanding and we invited them to Maine.
At the Manufacturing Summit hosted by Walmart and the National Retail Federation, we met with manufacturers, suppliers and retailers, and are confident that the connections we made will bring more companies and jobs to our state.
A beauty products company from China and rug manufacturer from Canada expressed interest in locating to Maine. Another company that is already in our state providing products to Walmart would like to increase their production to the retailer. And the list goes on. These are real businesses interested in creating real jobs in Maine, and it’s important that they know the state wants to partner with them.
Although we work all year to help Maine businesses to create or retain jobs, our efforts in August highlight some of the strides we are making. Here is a sample of jobs that we announced just this month:
Barclaycard announced this week that it will create a total of 200 customer-service jobs in Wilton.
Irving Forest Products will create 60 new jobs at a 30-million-dollar modern sawmill it will build at Nashville Plantation.
Maine Wood Concepts of New Vineyard was honored for adding more than 30 jobs in the past six months.
The Ameridial facility in Fort Kent will add 90 new jobs in the tele-services field.
A global company that makes surgical dressings will spend $7 million on its second recent expansion in Maine, adding 10 to 30 jobs in Wiscasset.
Still, there is more news. Allagash International of South Portland sent its first shipment of valve products to Puerto Rico using the new Eimskip container service. Eimskip plans to expand its operations to ship products from Maine internationally.
Additionally, we sent products last week to all 49 governors, promoting Maine’s world-famous lobster fishery and gaining national attention for the industry.
Most of these announcements I mentioned received not so much as a byline. But it’s not because our Administration isn’t sharing this information with reporters. It’s simply because the media has the power to pick and choose what is news. It’s a fast-moving digital age in which reporters would rather tweet than write an investigative report and where doom and gloom headlines are sensationalized.
However, we know these success stories are worthwhile because they are stories that affect real families – these are the Mainers who truly matter to us and why we work so hard to serve them.
Thank you for listening.