Starting January 1, 2015 the Oregon minimum wage increase 15 cents, to $9.25 per hour. Oregon still has the second highest minimum wage nationwide, after the Washington state minimum wage of $9.47 per hour.
Oregon Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian announced the most recent minimum wage hike. Like a dozen other states, Oregon indexes the minimum wage to the cost of living, which results in annual increases based on the federal Consumer Price Index or CPI.
More than 141,000 workers statewide will be impacted by this increase, which applies to all hours worked in 2015. According to Avakian, this increase will boost consumer spending $25M annually, or about $234 per employee. About 80% of minimum wage workers in the states with annual increases are at least 20 years old and about 66% of then are female.
Employers in Oregon must update their minimum wage posters to remain in compliance with the law…even if all their employees are paid rates higher than the state minimum wage. The folks at www.laborlawcenter.com are a great source of high-quality compliance posters on the OR minimum wage.
