Is Oregon's high minimum wage partially to blame for the state's 12.1% unemployment rate, second highest in the nation (only Michigan is higher at 12.6%, see chart above of Oregon's jobless rate in blue vs. US rate in red)? The major business organizations in Oregon think so, and so do some members of the Legislature: Lawmakers are considering a bill that would override a 2002 citizen initiative and block future minimum wage increases indexed to inflation.
Representatives of the Oregon Restaurant Association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Oregon Farm Bureau and the Oregon Association of Nurseries all argued in a public hearing on Friday that the high minimum wage is hurting Oregon business and contributing to the state's high unemployment rate.
The business leaders noted that Oregon's minimum wage rose by 45 cents an hour, to $8.40 on Jan. 1, even as the state's jobless rate was rocketing up 1% a month. On its face, requiring a substantial jump in wages at the same time the economy is crumbling seems certain to force businesses to cut more and more employees.
MP: Minimum wage, maximum folly (link and link). Demand curves slope downward, whether it's the demand for unskilled labor, skilled labor, aluminum, soybeans or lobster. Reason? There are substitutes for everything, whether it's unskilled labor, skilled labor, aluminum, soybeans or lobster.
Related from BBC: UK Business leaders have called for a minimum wage freeze as part of measures to help private industry drive the economy out of recession.
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→Oregon's 12.1% Unemployment, 2nd Highest in US: Is The $8.40 Per Hour Minimum Wage to Blame?
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