$12 Minimum Wage in Maine: Broad Benefits for Workers, Small Businesses and the State’s Economy

Raising Maine’s minimum wage to $12 by 2020, as the initiative that will appear on Maine’s November ballot proposes, would have broad benefits for low-wage workers, small businesses and local economies. It would help small businesses by leveling the playing field and ensuring large companies pay similar hourly wages to what small business are already paying. It would help low-wage workers, whose wages would increase, allowing them to better meet their basic needs. And it would generate new consumer spending and boost demand for goods and services, lifting the state’s economy.