Oregon minimum wage increasing to $8.95
PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon’s minimum wage will climb to $8.95 per hour next year.
The 15 cent increase will take effect on Jan. 1, 2013.
Brad Avakian, Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, said the increase is necessary to help Oregon families make ends meet in tough times.
“Oregonians recognize the rising cost of living facing every one of us, and our strong minimum wage law is essential insurance that Oregon workers and their families can maintain their purchasing power and continue to contribute to our local economies.”
Oregon voters approved a law in 2002 that directs the BOLI Commissioner to adjust the minimum wage every September based on inflation and the Consumer Price Index, a statistic that measures price changes for common goods and services used for day-to-day living. The adjustment is rounded to the nearest five cents.
Oregon is one of ten states that make adjustments based on inflation and the CPI.
The increase means about 128,000 Oregon workers will get a raise in 2013, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy.
The new minimum wage will be 23 percent higher than the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Sweet...I get to raise my prices all over again..seems like it was just last year that I raised them...uh..it was last year...and the wholesalers have raised them and now we get to do it all over again...I didn't get a raise..I get to take a step backwards...again...the value of the US dollar keeps decreasing with the Fed's QETERNITY...this tiny increase and the last increase and the one before that just add to inflation and doesn't do anything for my employees except raise the percentage of taxes taken out of their check. I wonder if it is ever gonna end...
I think they need to quit raising the minimum wages, too.... Â It's no doing any of us any good...
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They need to stop doing this....seriously!!! All raising minimum wage does is cause the price of everything to increase, it costs jobs in the long run because businesses have to make money and raising minimum wage raises their overhead. I remember working ten or so years ago and being so happy at getting a raise based on my work, now you get to make more then that for doing a crappy job. When are people going to figure out what we need are jobs not higher minimum wages???
 @Shannon K The prices have been increasing anyway, and it's not because of anybody's wages increasing. Paying people more just allows more people to a better shot at surviving on the pay they get.
@Kitte Lishuss @Shannon K I believe you are correct when you say prices have increased anyway. The problem is that raising the minimum wage just gives them an excuse to raise the prices again. It is just like raising taxes on business, you end up paying it. Now with the Fed printing all this borrowed money, just watch inflation go out of sight. Grab a rail and hang on you have not seen anything yet.
 @Kitte Lishuss Not trying to be snippy but how? If you raise minimum wage it does not offset the cost of anything, instead it now will cost more to buy the same thing, therefore you have gained nothing except a higher tax bracket. People who are already making more then minimum wage arent going to get a pay increase so though they may have been 'surviving' before they are now going to be struggling more to live off of the same wage.
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What our state needs is jobs not higher minimum wage. Employers need to be able to give their employees raises because they earned them not because some stupid law was passed by short-sighted people. We have like the 3rd highest minimum wage and are still high on the top 10 list for unemployment.....it hasnt helped us a bit to keep doing that.
 @Shannon K I agree.  Not to mention the more minimum wage goes up the less my salary looks good.  My Wife makes $10/hour.  They NEVER increase her wages to offset minimum wage.  So in essence all she does is get a "cost of living increase'
 @Steven Manson Exactly!! Now everyone who was making $9 an hour is now making minimum wage. All this does is makes those making more then minimum wage have to suffer for lack of a better word. I went to college. I have been struggling to find a job for a while now. When I got out of school a few years back, before the great recession, I would have been THRILLED to start out at $10 an hour...now it is like a joke.