Oregon’s minimum wage will top $15 an hour in the Portland area for the first time beginning in July, and rates are rising sharply in other parts of the state, too, in response to rising prices.
Oregon’s hourly minimum varies by region to reflect differences in the cost of living. State law raises it every summer, pegged to the rate of inflation.
The state’s Bureau of Labor & Industries announced late Friday that the Portland metro’s minimum wage will be $15.45 an hour beginning July 1, up from $14.75 last year.
The minimum wage in other urban areas and the Willamette Valley will be $14.20 an hour, up from $13.50. And rural Oregon employers will have to pay $13.20 an hour, up from $12.50.
In percentage terms, the increases range from 4.7% in the Portland area to 5.6% in rural counties. The consumer price index, the benchmark Oregon uses to determine how much the minimum wage will rise, was 5.0% over the past year.
Oregon’s private-sector wages have been rising much faster than that, climbing 9.1% annually, according to the latest data from the Oregon Employment Department. The rising pay partly reflects a persistent worker shortage that followed the early days of the pandemic.
Just about 1 in 20 Oregon workers earn the minimum wage, according to recent state data — about 108,000 statewide. The share of workers earning the minimum has been in decline as employers boost pay to overcome the tight labor market.
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. A...
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