I am writing after reading the article in this morning’s regarding the recruitment effort for out of state visitors, encouraging them to relocate to Maine and take skilled jobs.

While the effort at recruiting people to live in Maine is admirable, given that our population has been stagnant over the past 10-20 years, I believe this effort is misplaced and energy should instead be expended to keep our young people here and gainfully employed in Maine.

I am the parent of a son, in his mid twenties, who is well educated. My son was born in Maine. He has an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in the sciences, from high caliber schools; his undergraduate degree was from a top Maine college. My son has made the commitment to stay in Maine and has been seeking employment in his field for months, without success. While employers are willing to speak with him, no company has stepped forward and agreed to hire him.

We need to keep young, educated Maine people in this state if we are to have any economic vitality here in the future.

If we are not successful in keeping educated young people like my son in this state, we are doomed to continue to be the state with the oldest median age in the nation; this is not good for our economy.

They cannot stay here unless employers are willing to hire them. Instead of recruiting workers from out of state, how about giving a break to our young people who want to stay here and are willing to put in the work it takes to stay.

They are deserving of an effort from both the state and private enterprise to hire them and keep them in this state. We will all benefit if this effort is successful.

Donna Katsiaficas

Portland