AROOSTOOK COUNTY, Maine—Melissa Holmes works 60 hours a week, up from 40 before the pandemic, managing the short-staffed One Stop Tulsa gas station and convenience store on a snowy stretch in rural northern Maine.
All that extra work, at $15 an hour, means she’s earning more. But Ms. Holmes says rising costs, for everything from food to electricity, coupled with weariness from the state’s monthslong Covid-19 surge, have left her feeling depleted.
