Starting January 1, 2019 the state minimum wage increases by one dollar, from $10 to $11 an hour. Minimum wage for tipped workers, like waitresses and waiters increase from $5 to $5.50 an hour.
The increases comes as part of a ballot measure that was passed in 2016 which would require minimum wage to increase by a dollar each year until it reaches $12 an hour in 2020.
The state minimum wage in 2016 was $7.50 an hour.
On January 1, 2017 minimum wage increased to $9 an hour.
On January 1, 2018, minimum wage increased to $10 an hour.
Starting January 1, 2019, minimum wage becomes $11 an hour.
The subject of raising minimum wage is controversial because many business owners say they will have to raise their prices or decrease the size of their staff in order to accommodate for what they must pay their workers.
Arlo Hennessey just left their minimum wage job recently. They say a dollar increase makes an impact.
"Every couple cents makes a really big difference, especially when you’re not getting consistent raises as part of your position and especially if you’re one of eight staff members that may not have opportunities for advancement," Hennessey said.
The Maine Center for Economic Policy say the wage increase bolsters Maine’s economy.
"Not only does it sort of help boost morale and retention rates among employees, by making sure that they are paid fairly for the work that they do, it also means that when folks have more money in their wallet, with a larger paycheck, they go out and spend that money. That means that there is more money circulating in the economy," said James Myall, a policy analyst for Maine CEP.
The Maine Heritage Policy Center disagrees. They say they’ve talked to several small businesses that are on the brink of closing their doors.
"There is no big pot of money out there for them to reach into to pay for these wage increases year after year. And it’s really hurting their businesses when they have to scale back their operations, either cut hours for workers or maybe open an hour later, close an hour earlier. Those are the kind of decisions that small business owners have to make," said Jacob Posik, who does communications for The Maine Heritage Policy Center.
The Maine Center for Economic Policy says they haven’t seen a trend of small business decline.
"Certainly for the data we’re looking at, we’ve seen a lot of results, like a reduction in child poverty and we haven't seen some of these concerns or fears coming to fruition from the business community," Myall said.
Arlo Hennessey believes this increase will give people a better chance at making ends meet.
"When food is going up every week, when housing is going up, and there’s no stop on the cap of rent, i think that every dollar that people can save makes a huge difference," Hennessey said.