The Bangor Daily News editorial board published an editorial citing MECEP’s research linking the 2017 minimum wage increase to a dramatic reduction in child poverty:
Income for the poorest Mainers rose much faster for these workers than for any other group. Compared to 2016, household incomes for the bottom quarter of Maine workers were 10 percent higher in 2017, even after adjusting for inflation, according to analysis from the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning group. The data also show shrinkage of the percentage of Maine households at the lowest income levels as households advanced up the income ladder. For example, in 2016, nearly 23 percent of Maine households earned less than the poverty level. In 2017, 21 percent of households were in this bracket. The 2017 federal poverty level was $24,600 for a family of four.
