AUGUSTA, Maine - Supporters of an ballot initiative to hike Maine's minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 say a business coalition proposing an alternative that would raise the wage to $10 an hour instead is misusing research to bolster its case.
On several occasions, the coalition of innkeepers, restaurateurs and retail merchants supporting the smaller, alternative hike has cited research from the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California.
Garrett Martin, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, says the business coalition is misusing the institute's findings.
"First, the coalition used the median hourly wage for both full-time and part-time workers; it should have used the median hourly wage for full-time, full-year workers instead," Martin says. "Second, the coalition does not account for inflation in setting the minimum wage for 2020."
The University of California group is asking the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Maine Restaurant Association to stop using the flawed analysis and acknowledge their mistake. A spokesman for the coalition says they are looking into the matter.
