Maine needs to get more adults into the workforce and create affordable housing options for them if it wants to strengthen the state’s economy and quality of life, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Measures of Growth 2022 examined 31 indicators, awarding Maine gold stars in areas such as entrepreneurship because the number of business starts exceeded closures by 9% in 2020. Wages are strong too, rising 0.5% in 2021.

But the council, made up of business owners and lawmakers from both parties, issued red flags for housing affordability, labor force participation, mental and behavioral health and research and development investment.

The nonpartisan report by the Maine Economic Growth Council is a long term look at how Maine stacks up compared to other states and the U.S. as a whole.

To illustrate the housing crunch, LuAnn Ballesteros, vice president of external and government affairs at The Jackson Laboratory, said by mid-October of this year, 112 candidates for positions at the lab in Bar Harbor turned down job offers because they could not afford housing in the region.

Because it’s been an ongoing issue for the lab, the company built its own 45-unit housing development — which was full before it opened, she said Wednesday during a State House news conference.

“The Jackson Laboratory doesn’t want to be in the housing business or the childcare business, but in order to be in the research and development industry and biotech, we have to have those supporting infrastructures,” she said.

Growth council co-chairman Stephen Von Vogt, president and CEO of Maine Marine Composites, said workforce availability and participation are big challenges for Maine.

“It’s an urgent issue in every industry and region,” he said. “We still have to unpack the dimensions and driving forces which stem from years of demographic, economic and social changes compounded by the global pandemic.”

The solution is a multi-pronged approach, from recruiting workers from other states and countries, finding ways to keep young adults from leaving Maine and training the workers who are here, Von Vogt said.

“Maine is the oldest state in the union,” he said. “It isn’t getting any younger and it isn’t getting any better.”

With a median age of 45, Maine is the oldest state, followed by New Hampshire at 43 years of age, according to census data.

Rep. Jack Ducharme (R-Madison) said Maine’s labor force participation rate was 67.5% in 2000, but is now 60.5%. For employers, the top concern continues to be inflation, but right behind it is finding enough workers and the right workers, he said.

In his district, footwear and apparel maker New Balance has begun offering flexible schedules, made it easier to apply for and get a job and created a new training line to help workers get up to speed.

“There doesn’t seem to be a clear cause or solution to the decline in the labor force participation rate,” he said.

Another area of concern is that the number of children with a mental or behavioral health condition is increasing, from 26.2% in 2019 to 28.5% in 2020, the report shows. That’s significantly higher than the national average of 22.6%.

Yellow Light Breen, president and CEO of the Maine Development Foundation, said the council added mental health this year after becoming increasingly concerned about the issue.

“We weren’t surprised by the data,” he said. “We all recognize anecdotally that this has been a particularly traumatic period we’ve all been through as communities and individuals. This helps put a number next to that challenge and that trauma.”

Sen. Jim Dill (D-Old Town) said it’s an issue the Legislature has tried to address in recent years.

“I think the Legislature has been looking at it over the last two or three sessions,” Dill said. “Have we made a lot of progress? No. Hopefully as we move forward, we can. It’s not just one thing. It’s a whole kettle of various and sundry issues. There is not any one good solution.”