Minimum wage earners will receive a raise in their hourly pay starting today, when the state minimum wage increases from $6.75 to $7 per hour.
This is the second of a two-step increase that first lifted the minimum wage from $6.50 to $6.75 in October 2006 when Gov. John Baldacci signed the bill into law.
Approximately 26,000 Maine workers have earnings at or below minimum wage. Although a segment of minimum wage earners are teens employed at their first jobs, the majority of individuals making at or below the minimum wage are adult workers, according to VillageSoup.com.
Meanwhile, a new fee for oil changes also takes effect today. The fees, which range from $1 for most cars to $3 for heavier vehicles, were imposed by the Legislature earlier this year to help to pay for cleanups of former waste-oil sites in Plymouth, Presque Isle, Ellsworth and Casco, according to the Portland Press Herald.