I am writing this to state my case against requiring Maine’s businesses to continue to have to comply with the continuing and rapid increase in the minimum wage. I say this despite a history of working for social justice and a real concern for people living in poverty. And I partially accept the position stating that the act of raising incomes for the lowest wage earners will help our overall economy because, unlike the wealthiest in our society, these members will spend that increase.
Before my more progressive friends either gasp or look for something to throw, I ask that readers stick with this until the column’s end. I admit to all that my position brings with it a degree of moral dilemma and that I do not have a legislative solution for this conflict. I only have a perspective based on experience.
My argument is framed around three local, independent businesses I know. One is in Bangor, one Brewer, and the third is in Veazie. None is in a high-end, professional services niche (medical, legal, engineering, etc.), none is a restaurant or employs people who can add to their income by way of customer service or sales. These family-owned businesses have been open from four to 34 years.
All hire some entry-level workers who are paid at or close to minimum wage, but do not necessarily rely on them as a majority of their employees. All strive to train and promote from within and, generally, offer a quality employment experience with means for advancement. They wish to reward initiative and increased proficiency and responsibility. Maine’s current labor shortage makes for a very competitive recruitment proposition, and small businesses that have had to flatten or compress their wage range are at a disadvantage.
All three businesses have had to bear significant cost increases over the past decade, including those created by regulatory requirements, from health care and insurance, recruitment and training, and wages. They have recently experienced big increases in the prices they have to pay in order to acquire the goods, tools and/or services they market to their customers. All three, likely on different schedules, are on a trajectory of having to pass increases onto their customer base until those increases may force them to close their doors.
We are a state with challenges, and we struggle to stimulate economic success. Our small business base will not thrive if prices drive its consumers somewhere else, including to big box stores and shopping online.
There are real limits that some do not want to acknowledge concerning the effects of providing more income to workers (via increasing the minimum wage). I do not believe their resultant spending will or can be evenly dispersed. I’m thinking food, medicine, utilities and a Big Mac. Increases in our minimum wage do not return equally to support all small businesses.
Maine’s independent, small businesses are certainly not solely the brave, noble and suffering endeavors the far right sometimes describes. Neither are they the greedy, money grubbing enemies of the workers that some on the far left want to portray. They are as varied and as imperfect as the rest of us. These businesses need a skilled workforce, and that workforce needs employers.
The mills are mostly gone and the shopping malls appear to be shrinking. The economy of this state we love is built on small businesses, increasingly so over recent years. These businesses are very much a part of the quality of life we wish to enjoy and to trumpet to others. Let’s make sure that we don’t take them for granted while we support and build our workforce.
We need vibrancy in these employers, including redemption centers, nursing homes, microbreweries, specialty stores, and our nonprofits. Let’s support a rich diversity of independent, local businesses so we can in fact shop locally. A healthy local economy will provide opportunity for our citizens and gradually make the goal of a higher minimum wage attainable, durable, and maybe even less relevant.
Dennis Marble of Hampden is retired from the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter and active with regional civic, political, and economic development initiatives.