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CCH® PAYROLL — 9/24/08

Oregon minimum wage to increase to $8.40 per hour for 2009

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian has announced that Oregon's minimum wage rate will increase by 45 cents, from $7.95 to $8.40 per hour, effective January 1, 2009.

As a result of Ballot Measure 25, passed by voters in 2002 (ORS 653.025(2), as amended), Oregon's minimum wage is adjusted annually based on changes in inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is charged with adjusting the minimum wage for inflation every September, rounded to the nearest five cents. Based on an increase in the CPI of 5.37% from August 2007 to August 2008, the calculation used for determining the minimum wage rate for 2009 is: $7.95 X .0537, which is $.4269, rounded to $0.45.

Several other states, including Washington, Vermont, Nevada, Montana, Missouri, Florida, Colorado, and Arizona, annually adjust their minimum wage based on inflation and the CPI. The CPI, which is published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services, such as food, shelter, medical care, transportation fares and other goods and services people purchase for day-to-day living. Washington, which already has a higher rate, will continue to have the highest state minimum wage in the nation.

Oregon employers are required to post minimum wage posters. Employers will be receiving revised minimum wage posters reflecting the new minimum wage from the Bureau in December 2008. Posters may also be downloaded in December from BOLI's website at www.oregon.gov/BOLI. (Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Press Releases, September 16, 2008.)

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