AUGUSTA — With thousands of students graduating this month from Maine’s colleges and universities, Gov. Paul LePage says the state must create more jobs so more of those graduates stick around after receiving their degrees.

In his weekly radio address today, the governor said young men and women who go to college in Maine won’t be able to stay if they can’t find jobs.

He says job creation is a top priority and that he’s working to make the state more attractive for businesses that will create the jobs that will allow young people to call Maine home.

He also says Maine needs a better-trained work force to meet the needs of businesses. He says just 39 percent of Maine adults now hold degrees beyond high school.

In the Democrats’ weekly radio address, the top Democrat on the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations Committee says LePage’s proposed two-year budget largely fails to deliver on the governor’s promises.

Sen. Dawn Hill of York says LePage has promised to save money and create jobs, make government more accountable and protect Maine’s neediest residents.

But she says LePage’s proposed $6.1 billion budget accomplishes few of those things. Hill says the budget abandons Maine’s neediest – the elderly, disabled, mentally ill, working poor and veterans. She says the governor’s budget comes with severe cuts to services while giving tax breaks to out-of-state businesses and the wealthy.

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