OKPOLICY.ORG
For more information about the SQ 832 ballot initiation that would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage, visit OK Policy’s SQ 832 Information and Resources page.
– – –
The minimum wage impacts more than just workers. Children, parents, and loved ones also feel the impact when Oklahomans working at minimum wage are struggling to make ends meet. Wages for everyday Oklahomans are too low for many families to put a roof over their head or food on the table. People who work for a living should be able to earn a living.
Raising the minimum wage is one of the policy solutions that can improve Oklahoma’s economy, strengthen our quality of life, and reduce poverty in our communities.
Frequently asked questions about the minimum wage in Oklahoma. Click below to jump to a section:
- What is the minimum wage in Oklahoma?
- Who works minimum wage jobs in Oklahoma?
- Why does Oklahoma need to raise the minimum wage?
- Who benefits from raising the minimum wage?
- How does raising the minimum wage benefit Oklahoma’s economy, especially for small businesses?
- How can we increase the minimum wage in Oklahoma?
- When will I be able to vote on raising the minimum wage in Oklahoma?
- What are the advantages of a gradual increase to the minimum wage over time?
- What has happened in other states that have raised the minimum wage?
- Minimum wage, by the numbers
- Additional resources to learn more
What is the minimum wage in Oklahoma?
- Oklahoma’s minimum wage is tied to the federal rate, which has been $7.25 per hour since 2009.
- A person working full-time at $7.25 per hour has a gross annual income of less than $15,100.
- The gross annual income for a person working 40 hours a week at minimum wage in 2024 is just $20 more per year than the current federal poverty level for an individual. In 2009, that same worker would have an annual gross income about 40 percent higher than the federal poverty level.
Who works minimum wage jobs in Oklahoma?
- More than 200,000 Oklahomans would benefit directly from increasing the minimum wage.
- Most minimum wage workers (55.7% nationally) are working adults over the age of 25.
- 2 out of 3 of all minimum wage workers are women.
- Workers of color represent about half of Oklahoma’s minimum wage workforce who would benefit from raising the minimum wage.
- Just about half of minimum wage workers (47.3% nationally) are working that job as full-time employment.
- Many front-line workers in our community – including home health care, childcare, teachers assistants, and others – are low-wage workers.
- Currently, 1 in 3 Oklahomans make less than a living wage, meaning that many of our friends and neighbors are struggling to make ends meet.
Why does Oklahoma need to raise the minimum wage?
- The minimum wage has been unchanged for 15 years while living costs have increased by almost 50 percent since Congress last increased the federal minimum wage.
- Increased costs for groceries, gas, and housing have hurt thousands of Oklahoma families working full-time while earning wages that keep them in poverty.
- Raising the minimum wage is needed to ensure that people entrusted with our loved ones – home health care workers, childcare staff, and teachers assistants – can make a living.
- Oklahoma is one of the nation’s poorest states, with 1 in 6 Oklahomans living at or below the federal poverty level. The poverty rate for our children is even higher, with 1 in 5 Oklahoma children living in poverty.
Who benefits from raising the minimum wage?
- Everyday Oklahomans will stand to benefit if Oklahoma were to raise the state’s minimum wage. Too many Oklahoma parents work — often at more than one job — but struggle to put food on the table when they earn $290 a week. Raising the minimum wage lets people feed their families and pay rent.
- With a higher minimum wage, Oklahoma communities will become stronger as more people can better care for their families when they increase their earnings.
- Nearly 320,000 Oklahomans would receive direct and indirect benefit from increasing the minimum wage, according to calculations from the Economic Policy Institute.
- More than 200,000 Oklahomans would directly benefit from increasing the minimum wage, according to calculations from the Economic Policy Institute. The average change in annual wages would be just over $3,000 per year for full-time workers.
How does raising the minimum wage benefit Oklahoma’s economy, especially small businesses?
- What’s good for Oklahoma workers is good for Oklahoma’s economy. When workers have more spendable income, small businesses and the economy do better.
- This increase in economic activity, especially for goods and services, provides a significant boost to local and state economies.
- Most studies find that raising the minimum wage has little-to-no effect on employment levels.
- Employers who offer higher wages generally experience reduced employee turnover, which saves small businesses the time and costs of constant employee recruitment.
- Real-world studies show that some businesses may modestly increase costs to consumers, but these increases are not typically enough to drive consumers away. Employers could raise prices, but the effect on consumers has been shown to be relatively small.
- When workers have a higher income, poverty rates can fall and result in lower enrollment in shared public services like SNAP, WIC, etc. focused on low-income residents.
- The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that raising the pay of minimum wage workers by just one dollar an hour can generate more than $2,000 in consumer spending in a year. There are a myriad of positive effects when money is spent locally; more money circulating in our communities creates jobs, sustains the economy, and bolsters tax revenue.
How can we increase the minimum wage in Oklahoma?
- There are three ways to increase the minimum wage in Oklahoma:
-
- Congress can raise the minimum wage. Extreme gridlock at the federal level makes this an unlikely scenario.
- The Oklahoma Legislature can pass legislation that increases the state’s minimum wage. Bills that proposed raising the minimum wage have been introduced annually in recent years, but have failed to make it out of committee.
- Oklahoma voters can use the initiative petition to call for an election on a state question. Oklahomans with Raise The Wage Oklahoma have gathered signatures to put State Question 832 on a statewide ballot. The campaign submitted signatures to the Secretary of State’s office on July 15, 2024.
- Learn more about SQ 832 by visiting OK Policy’s information page on this state question.
When will I be able to vote on raising the minimum wage in Oklahoma?
- A special election for SQ 832 will be held June 16, 2026. Learn more at OK Policy’s SQ 832 information and resource page.
What are the advantages of a gradual increase to the minimum wage over time?
- Gradually raising the minimum wage is a win-win for businesses and workers.
- A gradual wage increase puts cash workers’ pockets immediately, and the benefit to workers would increase during the phase-in period.
- The phased-in approach would provide business leaders time a definite timeline to use for adjusting their business plans in response to the increased minimum wage.
What has happened in other states that have raised the minimum wage?
- A 2024 working paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research found that most minimum wage studies find no job losses or only small disemployment effects. In other words, the vast majority of minimum wage research implies that minimum wage policies have unambiguously raised the total earnings of low-wage workers.
- This 2023 study from the University of California-Berkeley found that raising wages at lower-incomes boosts consumer spending while also reducing employee turnover. Some studies show that some businesses may modestly increase costs to consumers, but these increases are not typically enough to drive consumers away.
- A study of U.S. tax data by researchers at the University of Michigan found that most businesses can shoulder the added costs of higher minimum wages with new revenues, making only minor employment adjustments. The study “debunks concerns that small businesses are hit hard by minimum wage increases.”
- Missouri raised its minimum wage in 2019 and found that, between 2019-2022, the unemployment rate decreased at a rate much higher than the national average and higher than each of Missouri’s neighbors.
Minimum wage, by the numbers
- $7.25 – The current federal minimum wage. Oklahoma’s minimum wage is tied to the federal rate. [U.S. Department of Labor]
- 2009 – The federal minimum wage was last raised in July 2009. [U.S. Department of Labor]
- 46% – The percentage increase of inflation between July 2009 and June 2024. The federal minimum wage was last adjusted to its current rate of $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009. [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]
- 55.3% – Percentage of workers nationally who are 25 years old or older and earn at or below minimum wage. [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]
Additional resources to learn more about the minimum wage
- One simple trick that will help Oklahoma’s small businesses and the economy [OK Policy]
- Oklahoma lawmakers need to close the affordable housing gap [OK Policy]
- Housing is unaffordable for Oklahoma’s low-wage workers [OK Policy]
- Too Far from Top Ten: Oklahoma Ranks 46th in 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book as OK Policy Urges Legislators to Invest in Children [OK Policy]
- 2022 Census data: Oklahoma remains among the nation’s poorest states; policy solutions can help reverse this trend [OK Policy]
- Working Paper: Small Businesses and the Minimum Wage [Institute for Research on Labor and Employment]
- A history of the federal minimum wage (2023) [Economic Policy Institute]
- Protecting low-wage workers from inflation means raising the minimum wage [Economic Policy Institute]
- The Crisis of Low Wages: Who earns less than $17 an hour in the U.S. in 2024? [Oxfam] | [Oklahoma’s Scorecard] | [Interactive Map]
- Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2022 [U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics]
- States With High Minimum Wages Are Doing Fine (Video, 2019) [Bloomberg / YouTube]
- Video: Near-record number of states are increasing their minimum wage in 2024 [CBS / YouTube]
- Video: Minimum wage myths debunked [The Hill / YouTube]
