A Look Back at Minimum Wage Jobs in 2018

Note: Some of the figures originally published in this blog post were revised on June 17, 2019.

Between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019, Oregon’s minimum wages were $12.00 per hour within the Portland urban growth boundary, $10.75 standard, and $10.50 in nonurban counties. Roughly 7.3 percent of all jobs paid minimum wage or less in Oregon in the third quarter of 2018.

The share of jobs paying minimum wage ranged from a low of 3.5 percent in Morrow County (279 jobs) to a high of 12.4 percent in Harney County (331 jobs). Multnomah County had 40,240 minimum wage jobs, which made up 7.1 percent of total jobs in the county.

With a larger concentration of jobs, metro areas also have more minimum wage jobs. Among the metro area counties, Deschutes County had the lowest percentage of jobs (5.7%) paying minimum wage among metro counties, followed by Marion County (5.8%) and Benton County (6.4%). Clackamas County had the highest share of jobs paying minimum wage among metro counties at 10.2 percent.

Seventeen counties had a share of minimum wage jobs at or below the statewide share of 7.3 percent. The smallest shares were in Morrow County (3.5%), Hood River County (4.1%), Deschutes and Clatsop counties (5.7%), and Marion County (5.8%). Counties with a higher share of minimum wage jobs tended to be in rural areas. Eastern Oregon had a greater share of minimum wage jobs than other areas of the state. The highest shares of minimum wage jobs were found in Harney (12.4%), Malheur (12.1%), Wheeler (11.8%), and Sherman (10.0%).

To learn more, read the full article written by State Employment Economist Nick Beleiciks.