Occupations with the Most Jobs Paying Less Than $12.00 per Hour

Oregon’s minimum wage levels were set by Senate Bill 1532 in 2016. The minimum wage increases on July 1st of each year through 2022. There are three tiers of step increases based on geography.

Oregon’s most recent minimum wage increase came on July 1, 2018, but the raises weren’t the same across the state. Minimum wage increased to $12.00 per hour inside the Portland urban growth boundary, $10.50 per hour in non-urban counties, and $10.75 in other areas of the state.

Minimum wage jobs are more common in some types of work. There are around 361,300 jobs in Oregon that pay $12.00 per hour or less. This represents 20 percent of all Oregon jobs.

Two occupations employ more than 30,000 workers with wages below $12.00 per hour: retail salespersons and cashiers. Food preparation and serving workers, along with waiters and waitresses, each have more than 20,000 workers with wages below $12.00. Dishwashers have the largest percentage of their total occupational employment making $12.00 per hour or less, with 78 percent of the jobs in this occupation below the threshold.

This article was written by Economist Anna Johnson.