By: Jon Stinson
Bangor, ME- Maine is a small rural state and has a large number of small businesses that form a decent portion of its economy. Businesses from Fort Kent to Kittery employ workers in a wide variety of fields like the tourism industry or even small shops in rural Maine. Recently a number of bills have been deliberated by the Maine state legislature that could drastically alter the face of working in the state. For better or worse is an employee or employer is going to change drastically, and the Maine economy may hang in the balance.
In 2015 the Maine minimum wage was set to rise to $12 per hour by 2020, and adjust for cost of living increases each year after. This change in law came to the relief and uproar of a number of residents of the state. While many workers now enjoy a greater sense of financial security, many businesses feel the impact of higher costs of operation that brought some to cutting costs.
Today there are a number of more changes to labor laws on the docket for the state legislature. From mandatory sick leave to addressing concerns of the increased minimum wage’s effect on the economy, the legislature is leaving a lot of unanswered questions for business owners such as Lenny Stinson of Luxury Painting Service. This business is much smaller than many of the laws dictate, but they aren’t without effect.
“Changing wage minimums and benefit requirements really help employees, but make it a little harder to give customers accurate price estimates,” says Lenny.
Those looking out for the various smaller businesses in Maine argue that improving working conditions so drastically puts undue strain on the more rural areas of the state. To account for these strains the state legislature has been mulling over actions like creating a separate minimum wage for workers who are minors. Many people question the impact that rising wages have on the Maine economy, amid lowering unemployment rates.
“The economy seems to be doing well, I’m not sure where all the concerns are coming from.” lamented Lenny.
The lowering unemployment rate does seem to contradict many of the concerns voiced during the various legislature debates. Despite this, proponents of the wage changes and opponents of the bills increasing workers benefit only see potential harm to small business. Though it would be remiss to judge the whole economy based on the single statistic. Obviously, the various bills being debated will have effects on the economy for better or worse if they are approved, hopefully not resulting in changes to the recent unemployment trend.
