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Tuesday, October 25, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. 9
Aging New England Tries a Youth PitchMANCHESTER, N.H.—Matt Mar-
shall is still trying to determinewhich path he will take when hegraduates from the University of NewHampshire in June. But the 23-year-old business major has pinpointed hisgeneral direction: out of the state.
“I definitely want to go some-place else. Where, I don’t know, butI’ve lived here all my life,” he said,mentioning a warmer locale as hispossible future home. “I hate snow.”
New Hampshire is giving thespiky-haired Mr. Marshall anythingbut the cold shoulder. With censusfigures showing New England—thesix states in the far northeasternU.S.—leading other parts of the na-tion in the decline of its under-45age group, the Granite State and itsneighbors are desperate to keepyoung people around.
Massachusetts is funding intern-ships at private companies—$2.2million this year, up from $1 millionlast year. In a pilot program startedin July, Vermont is forking over cashto graduates who stay in the state.
New Hampshire, under the direc-tion of a young-worker retention taskforce established by Democratic Gov.John Lynch, has launched a nonprofitcalled Stay Work Play to sell thestate to college students. The statealso is directing one-third of its en-tire marketing budget toward wooingand retaining younger people.
“I can’t think of anything moreimportant,” said Steve Boucher, legis-lative director of the New HampshireDivision of Economic Development.
Despite New Hampshire’s rela-tively low unemployment rate of5.4% as of September, officials havefound that about half of all collegestudents leave the state after gradu-ation, believing they need to head toa big city to find a robust social life.
Among the events planned is a“college invasion tour,” featuring co-medians and concerts, to help showa fun alternative to New Hampshire’s“traditional Yankee” side, Mr.Boucher said.
Regional officials say their reten-tion programs are new, so they arestill measuring the effects. Studentswho have been courted by the stateshave mixed reviews.
Ariana Chehrazi, a MassachusettsInstitute of Technology senior, had
been planning to return to her na-tive Los Angeles after graduation,but changed her mind after landinga summer internship at a diagnostics
firm through the state program. LosAngeles doesn’t “have the same feelas wanting to keep you here.…Mas-sachusetts is trying harder to get
young people,” she said.But 22-year-old Brian Iwanicki, a
New Hampshire native, said itwasn’t easy to find “a hip place that
a young professional might want togo” in Manchester, New Hampshire’sbiggest metropolis. “It’s a shortlist,” he said.
Still, 10 networking groups foryoung professionals have croppedup across New Hampshire—whichstate leaders see as an indicatorthat retention efforts are working.
The loss of young people is onefactor in New England’s slowgrowth, which puts the region at theforefront of a nationwide agingtrend. State leaders in the regionsay innovation depends on smart,young people and many officials seethe signs of that base dwindling.Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Republi-can, said last week that employershave been complaining to him abouta shortage of skilled workers.
Another worry: potential loss ofpolitical clout. States that lost con-gressional seats after the latest cen-sus were primarily in the Midwestand Northeast.
New England’s population grew3.8% in a decade, the 2010 censusfound, compared with the U.S.’s 9.7%overall growth. The population con-tinues to shift South and West be-cause of weather, cost of living andrelatively low-skilled jobs for new-comers, said Brookings Institutiondemographer William Frey.
With fewer people arriving, NewEngland leads in the graying of itspopulation. Of just seven states witha median age of 40 or older, four arein New England: Maine (42.7), Ver-mont (41.5), New Hampshire (41.1)and Connecticut (40.0). There arebright spots—Boston continues togain young people—but each NewEngland state saw a decline in theunder-45 group. Meantime, Arizona’sunder-45 population jumped 16%.
On a recent night, Stay WorkPlay New Hampshire visited the Uni-versity of New Hampshire’sManchester campus. “It’s easy to getthe perception there is nothing todo…but I’m constantly amazed thatthere is a lot of stuff happening” inthe state, said Kate Luczko, the pro-gram’s executive director.
The message rang true to BrianBishop, a 22-year old who said hewouldn’t likely head South or West.“I lived in Florida for a year and ahalf,” he said, with a sour expression.“It’s too slow-paced, too much smalltalk. Here we try to get things done.”
BY JENNIFER LEVITZ
At right, Kate Luczko, executive director of Stay Work Play New Hampshire, which tries to sell the state to collegestudents, answers a question from a student at a University of New Hampshire seminar this month.
John
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Loan Program Is RevampedWASHINGTON—The Obama ad-
ministration and a U.S. housing reg-ulator on Monday unveiled a re-vamped home-loan-refinancingprogram, aiming to enroll hundredsof thousands of borrowers whosehouses have declined in value.
The plan is the latest federal ef-fort to deal with one of the mostcritical impediments to an economicrecovery—a stagnant housing mar-ket caused in part by elevated num-bers of Americans who owe morethan their homes are worth.
It comes after numerous Obamaadministration efforts to stabilizethe housing market have struggledin an economy with consistentlyhigh unemployment.
The overhaul of the Home Af-fordable Refinance Program, orHARP, will let borrowers refinanceregardless of how far their homeshave fallen in value, eliminating aprevious loan limit of 125% of a
home’s current value, the FederalHousing Finance Agency said.
In addition, the plan is designedto streamline the refinancing pro-cess by eliminating appraisals andextensive underwriting require-ments for most borrowers, as longas homeowners are current on theirmortgage payments.
HARP, rolled out in 2009, is opento homeowners whose mortgagesare owned or guaranteed by FannieMae or Freddie Mac, the two gov-ernment-controlled mortgage giantswhose rescue three years ago hascost U.S. taxpayers $141 billion todate.
So far, only 894,000 borrowershave used the program, of whichjust 70,000 were significantly un-derwater. The FHFA said thechanges could at least double thenumber of homeowners who en-rolled.
Shaun Donovan, President Ba-rack Obama’s housing secretary, saidthe plan should save households$2,500 a year on average. “It’s the
equivalent of a substantial tax cutfor these families,” Mr. Donovansaid.
HARP will be extended through2013, beyond its current expirationdate of June 2012. The program islimited to loans that Fannie andFreddie guaranteed before June2009. Loans refinanced in the past2½ years, including those throughHARP, won’t be eligible to refinanceunder the program.
Mark Zandi, chief economist atMoody’s Analytics, said the changescould open the program to an addi-tional 1.6 million borrowers through2013, assuming that interest ratesstay near 4.25% next year and 4.75%in 2013.
Banks will be largely shieldedfrom the risk that they will have tobuy back HARP mortgages. Theyonly will have to verify that borrow-ers have made their last six pay-ments, have no more than onemissed payment in the last year andthat they have a job or anothersource of income.
BY NICK TIMIRAOSAND ALAN ZIBEL
U.S. NEWS
Texas
Calif.
Mont.
Ariz.
Nev.
Idaho
Colo.
N.M.
Utah
Ore.
Wyo.
Ill.
Kan.
IowaNeb.
S.D.
Fla.
Minn.
Okla.
N.D.
Wis.
Ala. Ga.
Mo.
Ark.
La.
N.Y.
Pa.Ind.
Tenn. N.C.Ky.
Mich.
Va.
Miss.
Ohio
S.C.
Maine
W.Va.W.Va.
Vt.
N.J.
N.H.
Mass.
Conn.
Md.
Del.
R.I.
Alaska
Hawaii
Wash.
D.C.
80
0
20
40
60
%
0
20
40%
1960 '70 '80 ’90 ’102000
Migratory Patterns | New England leads nation in loss of young people
Sources: William H. Frey analysis of U.S. Census data (state data); U.S. Census Bureau (change since 1960)
Percentage population under 45 years old in 2010 Growth since 1960
58% 60% 62%
U.S.
New England
Total populationUnder 45
Suspect Pleads Not GuiltyIn Plot to Kill Saudi Envoy
NEW YORK—A dual U.S.-Iraniancitizen pleaded not guilty Mondayto charges that he was involved in aplot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’sU.S. ambassador.
Federal prosecutors in Manhat-tan have alleged that Manssor Arb-absiar, 56 years old, hired a U.S.Drug Enforcement Administrationundercover informant, posing as amember of the Mexican drug cartelLos Zetas, to murder the Saudi am-bassador. Prosecutors say Mr. Arb-absiar wired about $100,000 in Au-gust to a bank account in the U.S. asa down payment.
Dressed in blue prison garb, Mr.Arbabsiar said little at the hearing,responding briefly to questions fromthe judge’s deputy. Sabrina Shroff, alawyer for Mr. Arbabsiar, declined tocomment after Monday’s hearing.
Mr. Arbabsiar and another man,Gholam Shakuri, were indicted last
week on conspiracy and othercharges in the alleged murder-for-hire scheme. Mr. Shakuri is consid-ered at large and believed to be inIran. They were originally chargedon Oct. 11.
Prosecutors have said the plot-ters hoped to assassinate the Saudiambassador at a Washington restau-rant and planned to pay $1.5 millionto hire a member of drug cartel tocarry out the killing. They allegedthat the plot was directed by ele-ments of the Qods Force, a special-operations unit of Iran’s Revolution-ary Guard Corps. The U.S. has saidthat Mr. Shakuri is a Qods Force of-ficial and provided thousands ofdollars to Mr. Arbabsiar this springto pay for expenses related to theplot.
The Iranian government hascalled the accusations “fabricatedand baseless.”
The next hearing in the case isset for Dec. 21.
BY CHAD BRAY
24 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Tuesday, October 25, 2011
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