Oregon continued its trend of increasing minimum wage annually with a raise from $8.50 to $8.80 starting on January 1 to keep up with the Consumer Price Index and inflation after a decision by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.@@http://kezi.com/page/234647@@
Raising minimum wage to $8.80 means a full-time, minimum-wage worker will now earn approximately $18,300 dollars per year, an increase of roughly $620 dollars@@624@@. The increase mirrors a 3.77 percent increase in the CPI since August 2010.
Oregon has the second-highest minimum wage in the country, behind just Washington at $9.04 per hour@@http://www.minimum-wage.org/wage-by-state.asp AND http://www.lni.wa.gov/workplacerights/wages/minimum/@@. The Federal Government sets a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, effective since July 24, 2009@@http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/minimumwage.htm@@, which the states can then add on to if they so choose. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.
Susan Kelley, owner of Blue Heron Bike Shop@@http://kezi.com/page/230557@@, feels that the annual increase is necessary to keep minimum-wage workers afloat in this economy. While questioning the long-term effects of the increase, she still thinks the increase is essential for workers earning minimum wage.
“Minimum wage makes a huge difference to everybody, and I support raising minimum wage,” she said. “However, the problem is if you pay your employees more, at some point you can’t keep charging the same prices you charged before. And that’s inflation, and then it’s cyclical.” @@So… in that case, you don’t make sense, lady.@@
Oregon has increased its minimum wage annually since 2002, when voters passed Ballot Measure 25@@http://tinyurl.com/72mz24d@@, which required an annual increase to compensate for inflation based on the CPI in future years. Oregon is one of 10 states that annually adjusts the minimum wage based on inflation and the CPI.
Oregon economics professor Ben Hansen@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Ben+Hansen@@ supports a steady and expected increase in minimum wage.
“I think for employers making efficient decisions, having consistent information for employers is better than randomly changing the minimum wage,” he said. “That lets them plan their employment and workforce in a more efficient manner.”
Hansen expects this incremental change to not have any major effects on the Oregon economy. Employers were expecting the change, he said, and therefore they have already made their employment decisions accordingly.
“It is better to have consistent, predictable behavior,” he said. “If you had to raise the wages by 20 percent, that is noticeable and tends to push employers over the edge. But this way employers can count on it every year.”