AUGUSTA, ME (Sept. 11, 2025) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, released the following statement by NFIB State Director David Clough in response to the 2026 minimum wage rate and overtime salary threshold that were announced today by the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL).

“For small firms, any hike in labor costs — which includes various federal and state payroll taxes — puts more financial pressure on the stability of our Main Street businesses,” said Clough. “This ripple effect forces the small business owner to adjust overall costs, and there is new pressure to increase prices. There is new pressure to manage other labor costs, including benefits and hours. And, of course, the small business owners take a hit themselves.”

Maine’s minimum wage will rise from $14.65 in 2025 to $15.10 on January 1, 2026. The overtime payment salary threshold, which is 3000 times the minimum wage, will go to $45,300.32 ($871.16 week). MDOL says 35.000 workers in Maine were paid less than $15.00 an hour in 2024, according to federal data. That U.S. Current Population Survey data also shows that 131,000 workers were paid between $15 to $19.99 an hour in 2024. These workers will be directly and indirectly affected.

The minimum wage for 2026 in Portland and Rockland is expected to increase by 50 cents to $16 an hour. Note that Rockland’s wage ordinance applies only to employers with more than 25 workers employed in the city. Portland’s ordinance has no employment size threshold.

Various studies estimate the ripple effect of a minimum wage to be 20% to 50%, meaning workers earning above the new minimum will expect to have their pay adjusted to keep ahead of minimum wage workers.

As reported in NFIB’s monthly jobs report, a seasonally adjusted 32% of all small business owners reported job openings they could not fill in August, down 1 point from July. The last time unfilled job openings fell below 32% was in July 2020. Twenty-eight percent had openings for skilled workers (down 1 point), and 13% had openings for unskilled labor (up 1 point).

The difficulty in filling open positions is particularly acute in the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries. Nearly half (49%) of small businesses in the construction industry had a job opening they could not fill, down 6 points from July and 11 points below last year’s level. This suggests a softening in the job market. Openings were the lowest in the wholesale and finance industries.  

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For over 80 years, NFIB has been the voice of small business, advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit www.NFIB.com.