Some workers have made the transition from closed factories to phone lines and headsets. He practiced law for 10 years in the Bangor area, handling legal briefs and court cases. She worked for 20 years on production lines in Belfast, handling chickens, potatoes and shoes. Now, both work the phones at MBNA America, the Delaware credit card giant with Maine offices in Belfast and Camden and several other communities around the state. From Presque Isle to Portland, telephone-based businesses employ about 10,000 people year round.
More jobs are on the way.
ICT, based in Pennsylvania, operates a phone center in Oxford Hills that employs about 200, with a new operation under way in Pittsfield that eventually will employ 250. Other companies have set up centers in Portland, Waldoboro, Lewiston and Augusta. For years, Waldo County has appeared regularly on the list of the state's poorest counties. Penobscot Poultry Co. Since opening an office complex in Belfast in 1996, MBNA has replaced that many jobs virtually alone. According to Chip Messick, the company's New England regional manager, the Belfast operation will employ about 2,000 workers by the end of the year.