Oregon's minimum wage going up January 1

10:28 AM PST on Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Associated Press

Oregon minimum wage to rise 45 cents an hour

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A 45-cent-an-hour increase will bring Oregon's minimum wage to $8.40 an hour beginning Jan. 1.

Michael Leachman, policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy, says this means an additional $936 a year for a full-time minimum-wage worker.







The adjustment reflects the rise in the cost of living and was required by a voter-passed measure in 2002.

Leachman says the restaurant industry has been Oregon's largest job-creator, providing nearly 21,000 new jobs between 2000 and 2008 despite claims from the industry that indexing the minimum wage leads to job losses.

Under the higher minimum an Oregon full-time minimum wage worker will earn $17,472 next year. That's below the federal poverty line for a family of three

Cool.