News
Economists Make the Case for a
$15 Minimum Wage in Oregon
By Donovan M. Smith
Of Th e Skanner News
E
conomists stepped up to the po-
dium at Portland State Universi-
ty on Tuesday voicing their sup-
port for lawmakers to make the state
minimum wage $15 an hour.
Financial experts, PSU professors
Mary C. King and Robin Hahnel,
Lewis and Clark teacher Martin
Hart-Landsberg say Oregon’s $9.25
minimum wage is insuffi cient for av-
erage Oregonians.
All Oregonians, King said, will ben-
efi t from having an increase to what
she called “higher wages at the bot-
tom.” The current minimum wage —
which $9.25 per hour in Oregon, two
dollars above the federal minimum of
$7.25 — is a disgrace, she said.
According to King, the minimum
wage hit its peak value in 1968, when
its market value equated in today’s
economy to $11 an hour.
“A substantial increase in the min-
imum wage is long overdue,” King
said. “In Oregon, we feel good to have
a minimum wage of $9.25. That’s still
only 84 percent of what our national
minimum was half a century ago. This
is not the market. This is not inevita-
ble. People have made decisions that
have us here, and that’s why we have
much lower wages at the bottom than
all the other wealthy nations.”
Nationally, the minimum wage is
lower than in Oregon at $7.25 an hour.
Earlier this year, lawmakers in Salem
decided to make the minimum wage
for those employed by the state to $15
an hour.
Landsberg says that in America wag-
es have been staggering to keep up
Briefs
continued from page 3
stock repurchases.”
About 17 percent of Oregonians
live in poverty. The three economists
agreed reducing poverty rates has a
number of known benefi ts that lead to
stronger communities including better
performance in schools, cuts in teen
pregnancy, reduction in crime, and an
increase in general wellness.
‘People at the top have done well, but most
others have not’
with the cost of living for decades and
those that have benefi tted have mostly
been the country’s top percent of wage
earners.
“People at the top have done well,
but most others have not,” Landsberg
said. “It would be foolish of us to wait
for market forces to change market
conditions.”
Landsberg attacked a popular class
and economic platform commonly
used by Republicans, theorizing that
policies designed to increase profi t
lead to more reinvestment and rapid
growth and henceforth better wages
for all.
“Profi ts have soared and none of the
rest has followed,” he said. “Firms are
not using their money for investment
or job creation. The money is going to
mergers, higher dividend payouts, and
The Skanner spoke with Hahnel
about what implications an increased
minimum wage could mean for Black
Oregonians, about one-third of whom
live in poverty.
Hahnel said because of historic prac-
tices, Black people are disproportion-
ately represented in low-wage jobs and
that the bump to $15 would be on tool
to combat economic racism.
“Blacks are disproportionately at the
low-end of the wage spectrum. Raising
the minimum wage would, therefore,
would have a particularly benefi cial
effect on reducing, not eliminating, the
degree of economic discrimination and
exploitation they face.”
Hahnel says pressuring local law-
makers through calls and emails to
their offi ces is an effective mode of
pushing this agenda through.
Beaverton Police Run ‘Click It or
Ticket’ Traffic Safety Campaign
Offi cers from the Beaverton Police Department and
other law enforcement agencies throughout Oregon will
be working the “Click it or Ticket” seatbelt enforcement
campaign, which will begin Aug. 24, 2015 and will
continue through Sept. 6. The focus of this campaign is
seatbelt use, booster seats, distracted driving involving
cell phones and speeding. The goal of this campaign is to
reduce traffi c injuries and deaths by increased education
and enforcement.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death
for children ages one through twelve years old. Child car
seats increase crash survival by 71 percent for infants un-
der 1 year old and by up to 59 percent for toddlers aged
1 to 4. Booster seats reduce the chance of nonfatal injury
among four- to eight-year-olds by 45 percent compared
to safety belts alone.
A child weighing less than 40 pounds must be prop-
erly restrained in a child safety seat. A child under one
year of age or weighing less than twenty pounds must be
restrained in a rear-facing child seat. A child over forty
pounds but under age eight or less than 4’ 9” tall must be
restrained in either a child seat with harness system or
in a booster seat that raises the child up so that a lap and
shoulder belt system fi t correctly.
The Beaverton Police Department holds free child
safety seat clinics throughout the year. The next clinic
will be from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 19 at the Kuni Cadillac
collision Center located at 3725 SW Cedar Hills Blvd,
Beaverton, OR 97005. The last car will be accepted at
11:30 a.m.
Speeding and driver impairment are the most common
causes of injury crashes. Oregon’s safety belt overtime
enforcement program is committed to reducing the se-
verity of crash injuries by promoting proper safety belt
and child restraint use.
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