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PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — Oregon’s minimum wage increased by 50 cents Monday.
The standard minimum wage for the state is now $11.25 per hour. The rate for workers inside the Portland metro area will go to $12.50, while the minimum wage rate for nonurban counties will rise to $11 an hour.
It’s the fourth increase to Oregon’s minimum wage in the last four years.
The federal minimum wage has stayed flat for a decade at $7.25 per hour, according to Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle.
“Oregonians believe that working for minimum wage shouldn’t leave people stuck in poverty,” Hoyle said.
The latest minimum wage increase is the result of Senate 1532, a 2016 law that locked in annual increases until 2022, when it will top out at $14.75 per hour in the Portland metro area. After that, future minimum wage increases will be tied to inflation.
SB 1532 also created Oregon’s unique three-tier minimum wage system to take into account differences in the state’s urban and rural regions, according to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
The minimum wage increase will apply to an estimated 162,000 people.
National data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows that less than half of minimum wage earners are younger than 25 years old. Roughly two-thirds of those workers are women
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