At Least Six Percent of Oregon Jobs Affected by Minimum Wage

This Wednesday, the state's Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) will announce the minimum wage in Oregon for 2015. The state's minimum wage is linked to inflation, and has been set to $9.10 per hour since January 1, 2014. Oregon is one of 10 states that adjusts the minimum wage based on inflation.

While we do not yet know what the new minimum wage will be, Unemployment Insurance wage records show that Oregon had roughly 103,400 jobs paying $9.10 per hour or less in the first quarter of 2014. This constitutes 6 percent of all jobs covered by Oregon's unemployment insurance, which would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage. 

Leisure and hospitality had the highest number of minimum wage jobs in the first quarter of 2014; one in five jobs in the industry (21% or 41,300) paid $9.10 or less. By numbers, retail trade followed with 20,700 minimum wage jobs, or 10 percent of all jobs in the industry. Natural resources and mining had the second-highest share of minimum wage jobs, with 15 percent at $9.10 or less (7,600 total).

Industries with the smallest shares of minimum wage jobs included: construction; manufacturing; and transportation, warehousing, and utilities.

For more information about Oregon's minimum wage, check out the 2014 minimum wage summary written by Nick, our state employment economist.