Minimum Wage Rises on July 1, Reaching $12.00 per Hour in the Rogue Valley
July 2, 2020 In the third quarter of 2019, the Oregon Employment Department estimates there were about 9,144 payroll jobs that paid minimum wage in the Rogue Valley, at the time $11.25 per hour. As of July 1, 2020, that minimum hourly rate in the Rogue Valley rises to $12.00 per hour, or an increase of about 6.6 percent. With overall U.S. consumer prices essentially flat over the year ending in May 2020, this increase of 6.6 percent also represents a real purchasing power increase of about the same amount. The increase the prior year was a 50-cent increase, or a gain of about 4.6 percent. Oregon’s minimum wage levels were set by Senate Bill 1532 in 2016. Rogue Valley minimum wage earners will continue to see 75 cent per hour annual increases each July 1st, until 2022 when the minimum wage will be $13.50. After that, the wage will be adjusted each year based on the U.S. consumer price index (CPI).
These estimates show about two-thirds of total Rogue Valley minimum wage jobs are in two industries – leisure and hospitality and retail trade, with about 4,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality and just less than 2,000 jobs in retail trade paying minimum wage in 2019. There were also about 750 jobs in health care and social assistance that paid $11.25 per hour last year. Minimum wage jobs make up about 20 percent of all leisure and hospitality jobs and about 9 percent of all retail trade jobs – the two industries where most minimum wage jobs are found. Nearly one out of ten jobs in private educational services and in other services paid minimum wage in the Rogue Valley.

See our report Oregon’s Minimum Wage Jobs: Facts, Figures, and Context for historical information about Oregon’s minimum wage jobs.
See the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries website for the Oregon Minimum Wage Rate Summary.