AUGUSTA – Legislation to address Maine’s gender wage gap, sponsored by Rep. Amy Roeder, D-Bangor, received initial support last
Wednesday from the Maine Legislature’s Labor Committee.
If passed into law, LD 799 would require Maine employers to provide an annual report of the median hourly rate of pay for their employees, along with the gender wage gap between them.
“We have a real opportunity in Maine to become the first state to eliminate its gender pay gap and attract more people to build their lives here,” said Roeder. “LD 799 gives our employers a chance to amend the current pay discrepancies that exist in their workplaces, potentially leading to higher worker retention.”
According to the Maine Development Foundation’s recent Measures of Growth report, in 2023, the median earnings of women in Maine was $52,457. This equates to only 85% of the median earnings of men in the state, which is $61,430.
The report goes on to indicate that for every $6 earned by Maine men, Maine women earned about $5 for full-time work. While some of this discrepancy can be explained by the differing pay scales of various occupations that are disproportionately filled by women, it doesn’t fully answer why this gap exists.
In addition to Roeder’s legislation, Rep. Lynn Copeland, D-Saco, is sponsoring a measure to direct the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women to study wages in the workforce. LD 522, which also received initial support by the Labor Committee on Wednesday, is another effort to close Maine’s gender wage gap and work towards more equitable pay for all.
Both LD 799 and LD 522 will come before the full House and Senate for further votes in the coming weeks.
Roeder is serving her third term in the Maine House of Representatives and is House chair of the Labor Committee. She represents House District 23, which includes a portion of Bangor.