Mike Tipping, Bangor Daily News, ME - At a speech to a conservative audience in Falmouth last week, Governor Paul LePage made a statement that is deeply revealing.
“About 47% of able-bodied people in the state of Maine don’t work,” said LePage.
On the recording you can hear a member of the audience ask “what?” LePage repeats himself: “About 47%. It’s really bad.”
Currently, around 65% of Mainers over the age of 15 are working or are unemployed and actively seeking work. Of the remaining 35%, almost all are retired, are caring for children or other family members, are pursuing education or training or have a disability that prevents them from working. Only a tiny fraction aren’t working for other reasons. The conservative Heritage Foundation, using U.S. Census data, puts this number at 1.1% nationally.
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