Oregon’s Minimum Wage Will Not Increase in 2016

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

GoLocalPDX News Team

Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian announced on Wednesday that Oregon's minimum wage will hold steady at $9.25 in 2016.

Avakian, who handles both setting and enforcing Oregon's minimum wage, calculates the figure each year.

He does so by measuring the increase to the Consumer Price Index, a federal figure published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics to track prices for a fixed “market basket” of urban goods. The figure helps track inflation across the country but does not fully capture local cost increases, such as skyrocketing rents in the Portland or Eugene metro areas.

About 100,000 workers – six percent of the state’s workforce – currently earn the minimum wage. For full-time workers, Oregon’s wage floor translates to less than $20,000 a year. Avakian called for wages to rise in the near future.

“It’s time to take action on wages,” Avakian said. “The reality is that Oregon’s wage floor is not keeping pace with the rising cost of rent, child care and other expenses. We should raise our state’s minimum wage so that people working full-time can afford to provide for their families.”

A common misconception about employees earning a minimum wage is that they are mostly teenagers. However, according to the Economic Policy Institute, roughly 80 percent of all minimum wage workers living in states with an indexed minimum wage are at least 20 years old.

Women are also disproportionally affected. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 62 percent of all minimum wage earners nationwide are women.