Disparity in Oklahoma minimum wage rates prompts calls for statewide increase

OKLAHOMA CITY – A growing disparity between what the state requires its employees to make and what it requires everyone else to pay is an indication that it’s time to increase the state’s minimum wage rate, advocates said.

Starting July 1, all state employees must make at least $12.41 an hour, or an annual salary of $25,820. The increase was mandated because of a 2009 law that requires state employees to have “an annual salary equal to the amount established in the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a three‐person household,” according to a release from the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

Observers said while the raise is needed for state employees, the obscure state law highlights a growing divide between Oklahoma’s stagnant $7.25 an hour minimum wage and what a family of three needs to make ends meet in the state.

And though they’ve allowed the minimum wage for state government workers to increase, lawmakers continue to resist calls to raise the overall rate for everyone else. They continue to back a 2014 law that forbids Oklahoma’s cities and towns from raising their community’s own wages above the state rate.

Sen. George Young, D-Oklahoma City, said the federal poverty measure the state uses to set its pay should also apply to Oklahomans who are not state employees.

“If we think that the state employees need a raise, why wouldn’t we think that other folk would need a raise?” he asked.

Thirty states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have a minimum wage set higher than the federal minimum, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Of those, seven states pay at or above $15 an hour. Neighboring states New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri and Arkansas pay more than the federal minimum.

Young, who is resigning from office later this year, has introduced bills that proposed a variety of options to raise wages, from a gradual increase to setting the minimum at $15 an hour. None passed.

An increase would be a “shot in the arm” to Oklahoma’s economy, he said.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kevin Stitt said the governor thinks the “free market should drive wages, not the government.”

But former Gov. Brad Henry tied state employees’ minimum wage to the Federal Poverty Guidelines with the 2009 law, meaning Stitt cannot control minimum wage for state employees, she said.

Amber England, a spokesperson for Raise the Wage Oklahoma, said it has been 15 years since the state has raised its minimum wage for all Oklahomans.

She said it is good to see some progress being made within state government.

“I think it is a recognition that we believe that the minimum wage should be higher, and I’m thrilled that these employees that have dedicated their career to public service are gonna get a pay raise,” England said.

England has focused her efforts on getting State Question 832 on the ballot. The state question would raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2025. It would increase to $15 an hour in 2029. She said supporters collected nearly double the needed signatures needed to get the measure on a future ballot.

“It is my hope that in combination of this campaign and with this increase, that lawmakers will recognize that they’ve been out of touch with regular Oklahomans, and they should come to the table and do more to help lift wages in Oklahoma,” England said.

In 2023, the minimum wage for state employees was $11.95 an hour. A spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Enterprise Services said in a statement that it is typical for the poverty level to adjust each year, and state government’s minimum pay rate changes with it.

Twenty-nine state employees, such as housekeepers, custodians and customer service representatives, will be impacted by the minimum wage increase.

Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, a policy analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, said about 200,000 Oklahomans — or about 5% of the population — are paid at or around $7.25 an hour.

She said people of color are paid disproportionately lower wages than white Oklahomans, and it is the same case for women compared with men.

“And so raising the minimum wage floor would help begin to address that problem,” Ramirez-Perez said. “It can’t correct for it entirely, but it’s a very important step because it provides a boost to everyone.”

The State Chamber, which represents Oklahoma businesses, responded with a comment, but the statement they provided was unresponsive.

Gene Blankenship, deputy director of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, said in a statement the last “across-the-board” pay raise for state employees was in 2019.

“Current wages are insufficient to meet the basic needs of many residents, and the growing disparity between wages and the cost of living threatens the state’s workforce,” Blankenship said. “Policymakers, businesses and community leaders must work together to implement strategies that will raise wages, improve living standards and create a more prosperous future for all Oklahomans.”

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.