Oregon Workers Get Minimum Wage Hike

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon workers are getting a bump in the minimum wage but will also pay a new statewide transit tax.

The Statesman Journal reports that workers in the Portland area on Sunday saw the minimum wage jump to $12 per hour, or a 75-cent increase.

More rural parts of the state got a 50 cent increase to $10.50. Workers in Marion and Polk counties got a 50 cent bump as the rate increases to $10.75 per hour.

The Legislature in 2016 approved a set of increases in the minimum wage until 2022, when the wage will be tied to inflation.

Oregon workers will now also pay a transit tax. The tax is .001 percent — $1 per $1,000 — and employers will withhold the tax from workers' wages.

That tax took effect Sunday. It pays for public transportation projects and improvements statewide.