This November, voters in Portland and Rockland will have the opportunity to vote on ballot measures to gradually increase the hourly minimum wage from $12 to $15 from 2022 to 2024. If approved, the two proposals would increase the minimum wages in Rockland and Portland from the current statewide $12 an hour level to $13 beginning Jan. 1, 2022, $14 in 2023, $15 in 2024 and then annual cost-of-living increases. The Rockland proposalwould only apply to employers with more than 25 workers.
It’s well established that the current minimum wage still too low as a person working a 40-hour a week job earns just $24,960 annually at $12 per hour, before taxes are deducted. A 2015 study found that a living wage in Maine for a single person was $15.77 and$29.08 for a single parent with two children.