Oregon's Minimum Wage is Frozen at $9.25 in 2016

Portland Mercury:

Oregon minimum wage workers won't see an increase in their earnings 2016, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian announced today. This isn't great news for the 100,000 workers earning $9.25 an hour—which translates to less than $20,000 a year—considering skyrocketing rents in the Portland metro area as well as around the state. Every year the labor commissioner measures the Consumer Price Index (CPI) set by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to track prices on a "basket of goods" and determine the following year's statewide minimum wage. Last year, Avakian increased the amount by 15 cents. Jamie Partridge, a 15NowPDX leader says he understands that Avakian's hands are tied when determining the statewide minimum wage and hopes the announcement will stimulate the movement to get enough signatures to get a proposal on the 2016 ballot to increase the minimum to $15. "The annual adjustment is pegged to CPI and doesn't take into consideration the circumstances faced by Oregonians—rent, health care costs, food costs, and student debt are off the charts," he says. "The actual experience is that people are losing their homes and going bankrupt when they're working full time." Justin Norton-Kertson, another 15NowPDX activist working for a statewide increase says the stagnant minimum wage is another indicator that voters need to approve the ballot initiative. "We are in a Renter State of Emergency," he says. "Working people are struggling more than ever. We need a $15 minimum wage to bring Oregon's working families out of poverty." For his part, Avakian also supports raising Oregon's minimum wage. In 2013, he testified before the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in support of Sen. Tom Harken’s efforts to boost the federal minimum wage. In 2014, Avakian was the first statewide official to call for a minimum wage increase. “It’s time to take action on wages,” Avakian wrote in today's news release. “The reality is that Oregon’s wage floor is not keeping pace with the rising cost of rent, child care and other expenses. We should raise our state’s minimum wage so that people working full-time can afford to provide for their families.” A common misconception about employees earning a minimum wage is that they are mostly teenagers. However, according to the Economic Policy Institute, roughly 80 percent of all minimum wage workers living in states with an indexed minimum wage are at least 20 years old. Women are also disproportionally affected: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 62 percent of all minimum wage earners nationwide are women.

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