Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon employers will have to tack a dime-an-hour onto what they pay workers making minimum wage. As Rob Manning reports, a different decision may be coming in Washington.

Both Oregon and Washington tie their minimum wages to the Consumer Price Index.

That Index went up a little more than one percent over the last year. So, Oregon’s minimum wage will rise in January from $8.40 an hour, to $8.50.

But in Washington, the state Attorney General says that state’s minimum wage should not go up – because the Consumer Price Index hasn’t recovered to pre-recession levels.

Oregon labor commissioner Brad Avakian is critical of Washington’s approach.

Brad Avakian: “That analysis seems inconsistent to me, so it’s not something that Oregon would follow. But Washington’s law is slightly different from ours, and certainly gives room for them to interpret it differently.”

Despite the New Year’s wage increase for Oregon, workers to the north will still earn more. Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country, at $8.55 an hour.