Low-Paying Jobs Are Concentrated in a Few Occupations

Oregon’s minimum wage will increase each year through 2022, as outlined in Senate Bill 1532, which was passed on March 2, 2016.

The Oregon Employment Department has studied this topic from many angles. For example, we know minimum wage jobs account for about 5 percent of jobs in Oregon. Minimum wage workers are more likely to be women, under the age of 25, and without a college degree.

One topic relatively new to us is the study of which jobs in Oregon pay near-minimum wage. While we have been able to guess in the past using national data (and our own experiences), new estimates let us attach more concrete figures to which Oregon jobs pay near-minimum wage.

There are four occupations that employ more than 15,000 workers at wages below $10 per hour: fast food prep and serving workers, waiters and waitresses, cashiers, and retail salespersons.

The top 20 occupations with the greatest numbers of jobs below $10 per hour account for two-thirds of the lowest wage jobs. Together these occupations employ about 133,000 workers at hourly wages below $10 per hour.

To learn more, read Economist Will Burchard's article "Low-Paying Jobs Are Concentrated in a Few Occupations".