More Than 40 Percent of Jobs Paid at Least $20.00 Per Hour in 2018

In 2018, the largest number of jobs was held by professional and business services (449,745 or 14.3% of the total jobs in Oregon). The leisure and hospitality industry ran not far behind, capturing 431,829 (13.8% of all) jobs that year. In terms of percent increase, that industry has rebounded more than any other (up 21.4%) since the recession a decade ago. Despite over-the-year gains, three broad industries – construction (down 3.5% from 2006), manufacturing (-5.1%), and financial activities (-8.6%) – have yet to regain all the jobs they lost during the recession.

The median hourly wage of jobs in all broad industries rose from $17.03 to $17.79 per hour in 2018 – a year-over-year increase of 4.5 percent, likely boosted by increases in the minimum wage. All individual broad industries saw their median wages increase. Leisure and hospitality recorded the largest over-the-year median wage increase, at 7.8 percent. The real (inflation-adjusted) change in median hourly wages are generally less impressive. They shrink the year-over-year all industries median hourly wage increase to 2.0 percent and leisure and hospitality’s increase to a still notable 5.2 percent.

Almost one-quarter (24.2%) of all 2018 jobs paid at least $30.00 per hour. Nearly 43 percent (1,349,020 jobs) paid at least $20.00 per hour; larger than the percentage (37.2%) that paid less than $15.00 per hour. All but the smallest hourly wage class posted job gains. The $15.00 to $19.99 category had the highest year-over-year percent increase in jobs at 12.0 percent. The latter increase is not surprising, given minimum wage increases and the concentration of job gains in professional and business services and leisure and hospitality. As of July 1, 2018, the lowest minimum wage in Oregon was $10.50 per hour. At the other end of the spectrum, the highest ($60.00 or more) wage class showed the second largest gain in numbers of jobs (11.0%). Nearly 10 percent of all jobs paid $50 or more per hour; the top two classes together also saw a 10 percent increase in number of jobs in 2018.

To learn more, read Special Projects Analyst Barbara Peniston's full article here.