Minimum wage increase to $8.40 on Jan. 1
By Laura Rillos KVAL News and KVAL Web StaffEUGENE, Ore. -- On Jan. 1, Oregon's minimum wage will increase by 45 cents to $8.40 an hour. Right now, it's $7.95 an hour. The owner of Village Inn Restaurant and Lounge in Springfield says fewer people are eating at his restaurant. With profits down, the minimum wage hike is another cost he can't afford. Owner Martin Quinlan calls the 45 cent minimum wage hike frustrating. To stay in the black, Quinlin says he'll have to cut back employee hours. "It comes back to when you're struggling for profitability in a down economy and another cost goes up, you have to start adjusting," Quinlan said. "That's what we're going to have to do." By law, Oregon's minimum wage is based on the price of consumer goods and services. So when those go up, so does hourly pay. "Blindly increasing minimum wage during a very down economy doesn't seem right," Quinlan said. Some job seekers at the Employment Office are worried. "It's hard for them to pay minimum wage and offer a good product and employees working to make a living," said Theresa Unquero of Monroe, Ore. Others say minimum wage workers need the pay hike. "It drives everything up, that's just reality," said Sonny Tremain of Springfield, Ore., "but with the way everything is, I don't know how someone can live on minimum wage anyway." Oregon voters approved the annual minimum wage hike in 2002. |
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