Recently, I was privileged to welcome President Biden to Auburn Manufacturing in Auburn, Maine to talk about how the innovation of Maine people is building a stronger, more prosperous state.
Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.
You know, Maine has a long and proud history of making high-quality products used by people around the world. For example, generations of hardworking Maine people have harvested timber from our forests and harnessed the power of our rivers to create high-quality paper products and textiles.
I grew up in the shadow of the paper mills in Western Maine. My classmates built their lives around those good paying jobs, and they lost more than a paycheck when our mills began to close some years ago.
As one former mill worker put it, "Losing the mill was losing a job, but it was also losing the status of the job. It's a job people look up to. Losing that pride, along with the relationships with everyone you work with, that was one of the toughest things."
Well, when I took office, I knew that to bring back that pride, to create good paying jobs, and to grow our economy, we had to invest in our greatest asset: Maine people.
Thanks to President Biden's investments in our state, and the hard work of Maine people and help from Congress, we are creating good-paying jobs, and our economy is growing stronger every day.
Maine's unemployment rate is at a record low, we have a near record high number of jobs, and our GDP has grown at one of the best rates in the nation.
New businesses are coming to Maine and existing businesses are expanding. More than 1,800 manufacturing companies now employ more than 56,000 people in Maine, exporting everything from aircraft parts, semiconductors, seafood, advanced forest products, textiles made at Auburn Manufacturing.
Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan has helped Auburn Manufacturing and companies like them expand their production. Now Auburn Manufacturing's high-quality, extreme heat protection textiles and fabrics, crafted by 50 skilled Maine workers, are used every day across North America and in more than 30 other countries. We are incredibly proud of Auburn Manufacturing's CEO Kathie Leonard and her entire team in Auburn.
Thanks to innovative Maine companies like Kathie Leonard's, and with historic federal funding, we are creating good manufacturing jobs once again. Jobs that Maine people can look up to. Jobs that Maine people are proud of. Jobs that provide for the families of Maine people.
I am so proud of the work we have done to bring back manufacturing jobs to Maine and build a stronger, more prosperous state.
This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.