BANGOR, Maine - Only 45 percent of Maine's roughly 17,000 job openings pay a living wage for a single adult, according to a new report by a liberal advocacy group.
The Alliance for a Just Society researched and wrote a "Patchwork of Paychecks," looking at the availability of living wage jobs and full-time work in states across the country.
The Maine People's Alliance, a member organization of the Alliance for a Just Society, released the report at a news conference today in downtown Bangor.
Sarah Nichols is a member of the Bangor City Council, which just voted to raise the minimum wage to $9.75 an hour by the year 2019.
"Right now in Maine, a single adult with no children needs to make $15.77 an hour, for 40 hours per week, to make ends meet," Nichols said. "It more than doubles if you are a single parent with one child."
Maine's minimum wage is $7.50 an hour.
A coalition of groups, including the Maine People's Alliance and the Maine AFL-CIO, have gathered more than 90,000 signatures for a 2016 ballot initiative to raise the state's minimum wage.