Personal income grew in Maine — thanks to the minimum wage

Income for the poorest Mainers rose much faster for these workers than for any other group. Compared with 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.

Click here to read the full editorial, published November 24, 2018, in the Bangor Daily News.