Minimum wage workers in Oregon will see a 50 cents per hour bump in pay starting next month.
Oregon鈥檚 minimum wage varies based . On July 1, the state鈥檚 standard minimum wage will rise to $14.70 per hour. The minimum wage in the Portland metro area is $1.25 above standard and will increase to $15.95 per hour. The wage in nonurban counties is $1 below standard and will go up to $13.70 per hour.
Oregon is also one of nine states that . That means workers who receive tips, such as bartenders, baristas and servers at restaurants, must be paid at least the minimum hourly amount on top of tips brought home.
Last year, state officials began indexing the minimum wage rate to the as calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. It tracks how much prices are going up on typical household expenses like rent, groceries and fuel. Nationwide the consumer price index is up more than 3% over the last year.
鈥淚ndexing the minimum wage to inflation aims to ensure the wages of Oregon workers keep pace with the economic realities they face,鈥� writes Bureau of Labor and Industries officials in an . 鈥淲age increases, particularly for those at the bottom of the income spectrum, have far-reaching benefits. They increase community level economic activity and support local businesses.鈥�
Since the early 1990s, Oregon has had a higher minimum wage than federal law. If a state amount is different from the federal rate, the worker is owed the larger amount. The federal minimum has been set at $7.25 per hour for the last 15 years.
Oregon鈥檚 employment department hasn鈥檛 released its wage analysis for 2023 yet, but at the end of 2022 just over . The average hourly wage in Oregon was $31.17 in 2022.
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