$15 Minimum Wage on the Ballots in Portland and Rockland

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.