County may not see extreme lows of recession

By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
    Though the country may be experiencing a recession, Aroostook County may not be impacted as severely as other parts of the nation.
    “My personal view on the state of the economy,” said 15-year President of Aroostook County Savings and Loan John Swanberg, “is that, when you look at Aroostook County, we’ve never had the real highs and typically don’t see the real lows. When other parts of the country are suffering severely, like Florida and California, two places that experienced a huge housing bubble, we don’t see lows of that nature. Things have been fairly stable,” he added, “and they continue to be.”
    According to Swanberg, much of the economy in Aroostook County is based on natural resources, which have been effected by the recession, but not cataclysmically.
    “Nothing’s changed from a lender’s viewpoint,” stated Swanberg, “In Aroostook County, all the other lenders including ourselves have money to lend to people who have the capacity to borrow; if people need to buy a car, or a home, or need a loan, it’s not an issue as long as they have good credit.”
    “We continue to lend and we have continued lending every day,” Swanberg added, “there hasn’t been any stoppage or changes, it’s been business as usual.”
    Stability of our financial institutions and general economic stability in Aroostook County, while good news, doesn’t necessarily mean that The County hasn’t seen any hardship from this recession. According to Adam Fisher, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Labor, Aroostook County is being hit by the recession in different ways because of the importance natural resources play in the economics of the region.
    “The residential housing market has slowed around the country,” said Fisher, “In Aroostook County, there are places that manufacture or produce the raw materials that lead to construction, so the demand for those products has decreased as the housing market has slowed.”
    “Throughout 2008 in Maine, we’ve lost about 720,000 jobs as of November,” said Fisher. “Our current unemployment rate, at 6.3 percent, is slightly lower than the national average of 6.7 percent. Job loss has been seen in nearly every sector of the economy, except health care and business/professional services,” he added, “every other industry center, including government jobs, has been and may continue to be impacted for the next few years.”
    Though even expert economists may disagree on timelines for this recession, the Maine Department of Labor has provided Mainers with a small silver lining:
    “We provide a free 101 job service for people who have lost their job, are worried about losing their job, or possibly thinking about switching careers,” said Fisher, “We look at their skills are work experiences and place the information into a database and look at possible career options, opportunities, and additional training opportunities. We help people prepare for career planning based on job growth projections and wages,” he added.
    According to Fisher, the cost of land and doing business is generally less in Aroostook County than the rest of the state, but businesses relocate according to the availability of a skilled workforce.
    “The biggest single cost for many businesses is the cost of labor,” said Fisher, “Our goal is to help employers develop a skilled workforce.”
    Anyone interested in utilizing the job placement resources available by the Maine Department of Labor can stop by one of the career centers.
    The Career Center in Presque isle is located at 66 Spruce Street, and can be reached by phone at (207) 760-6300.
    The Career Center in Houlton is located at 91 Military Street, and can be reached by phone at (207) 532-5300.