Celebrate the New Oregon Minimum Wage

Chuck Sheketoff

The new year means Oregon’s low-paid workers get a raise, a 15-cent increase to the state’s minimum wage.

The increase from $8.80 to $8.95 per hour means an extra $312 a year for a family with one full-time minimum wage worker. The increase is the result of Measure 25, approved by voters in 2002, which bumped up Oregon’s minimum wage and mandated subsequent annual cost-of-living increases based on the Consumer Price Index.

Strengthening the buying power of low-wage workers is especially critical in this economic climate.

A recent study by the National Employment Law Project (PDF) showed that, while 60 percent of jobs lost during the recession have been middle-wage occupations, low-wage occupations have accounted for 58 percent of jobs created in the post-recession recovery.

Read about the Oregon minimum wage increase and discuss here.

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Chuck Sheketoff is the executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. You can sign up to receive email notification of OCPP materials at www.ocpp.org.

By Chuck Sheketoff Jan. 01, 2013 Posted in open discussion.