PORTLAND, Maine - A new report from the National Employment Law Project suggests that raising Maine's minimum wage would help small businesses be more competitive with national chains.
The Project's Yannet Lathrop says, on average, large businesses in Maine pay a little more than $10 an hour, while small businesses pay closer to $13 an hour.
"Having a minimum wage that increases the state's minimum wage to $12 an hour would really level the playing field for those small businesses," Lathrop says, "those responsible employers that are doing the right thing for their employees."
A state ballot initiative will ask voters this fall whether they support raising Maine's current minimum wage of $7.50 an hour to $12 an hour by 2020.
