Oregon’s Minimum Wage Hikes to $17/Hr July 1, 2022 if Bill Passes
Oregon's average state minimum wage rate is $12.00 per hour, quite a bit higher than the Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25 per hour.
If Oregon House Bill 3351 passes, Oregon's minimum wage would become the tops in the country, by a lot.
As it is, Oregon has a three-tier minimum wage scale: The Portland Metro area (Clackamas, Washington and Multnomah counties); standard counties and nonurban counties.
The minimum wage applies to most employees in Oregon, with limited exceptions including tipped employees, some student workers, and other exempt occupations.
The minimum wage is currently $13.25/hour in the Metro area; $12/hour in standard counties like Hood River, Wasco and Deschutes and in "nonurban" counties like Umatilla, Morrow, Union, Grant and Baker, it's $11.50/hour.
The wage is scheduled to increase to $14 in the Metro, $12.75 in standard and $12 in nonurban on July 1 of this year and again on July 1, 2022, to $14.75/$13.50/$12.50.
After that, according to the current law on the books, the state is directed to adjust the standard wage annually based on the Consumer Price Index. The Metro wage would be $1.25 more per hour than the standard wage; nonurban employers would pay $1 less than the standard wage.
House Bill 3351 would turn that timeline on a dime by moving the wage to $17/hour across the entire state on July 1, 2022.
Then, the law would default back to the wage being adjusted annually to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, but with a specific and significant change: One wage for the entire state.