Oregon’s minimum wage will increase from $7.25 to $7.50 starting Jan. 1, 2006. Some are conflicted about whether it helps or hurts.

Ballot Measure 25, passed in 2002, made minimum wage increases a reality for Oregon. The measure makes the Labor Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries change the minimum wage based on inflation, or the cost of living. The current Labor Commissioner, Dan Gardner, petitioned for the ballot. He said, “Overall, most low-wage workers pump every dollar of their paychecks directly into the local economy.”

The national minimum wage is $5.15. Britain has one of the highest minimum wages at $8.89 per hour. Oregon has the second highest minimum wage in the United States, just behind Washington. Incidentally, Oregon has the second highest inflation rate.

Jim Saxton, the vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee Report, said “Raising the minimum wage hurts the poor, it takes away jobs, keeps people on welfare, and encourages high school students to drop out.”

On hearing about the raise in minimum wage, students at Mt. Hood Community College held different reactions. Priscilla Macedo, who works at the Portland Alternative Health Center and is studying nursing here, makes $14 per hour. She believes this is fair pay but said about the minimum wage raise, “I think I should get a raise if everyone else is.”
Renee Colwill, a clerical assistant at the College Center who studies dental hygiene, gets paid $7.50 for being a student worker. She didn’t think the wage increase applied to her because, “I’m not here for the money.”

Cody Bakken, who holds two jobs, is a student senator in the ASG and is studying education, said he would use the extra money to “add one credit hour.”

Dan Tuene, who works with Bakken in the computer lab, was asked what he’d do with the extra quarters. “I would exchange the quarters for nickels and go to Wunderland,” he said.
Teune and Bakken’s boss, Becky Gish, the technology lab coordinator, said, “I think it comes down to the responsibility of the job,” when a raise in pay is talked about.

Based on a 40-hour week earning $7.50, that comes to $1,200 a month, and $15,600 a year, before taxes. The 2004 federal poverty guidelines indicate that is enough for a single person household, with the level for the 48 contiguous states set at $9,310 per year. A family that includes two people is set at $12,490.

Some basic needs can be added up. Apartments around MHCC with one bedroom average around $650, plus $150 for utility, water, and phone bills. One male could live on $150 a month for groceries, without restaurants or extras. With a car that gets 20 miles to the gallon, that could come to $50 only driving 400 miles a month. Insurance could average around $100.

MHCC charges $63 a credit, without student and technology fees, and 12 credits is full time, which the minimum fee would be $756. To afford college, rent and utilities, one person must make at least $1202, only two dollars away from the gross minimum wage monthly paycheck. Not included are: school books, cleaning supplies, toiletries, clothes, vacations, cigarettes, alcohol, movies, concerts, dates, or any other extras.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 11.3 percent of the population of Multnomah County lives in poverty.

The same number is true for all of Oregon. However, the median household income in Multnomah County is $41,553, just under the national average of $42,409.