OKLAHOMA ( KFOR ) – Currently, the Oklahoma State Supreme Court is determining if voters will be able to decide whether or not to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. It comes as new data from ZipRecruiter shows the average livable wage in Oklahoma is $56,102 – just under $27 an hour.
According to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, the average hourly rate for an Oklahoman working for a business is $29.50 an hour. However, an Oklahoma Senior Policy Analyst says for many Oklahomans, that’s not the case.
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“There’s a big disconnect between housing costs and wages. So, we’ve seen housing costs rise pretty substantially over the years, while wages have largely stagnated. So that means we have a lot of Oklahomans that are working full time jobs that still can’t afford a basic life and necessities like housing,” said Sabine Brown, senior policy analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute.
Sabine Brown shared with KFOR her findings that over the past two decades, housing costs have risen considerably in Oklahoma while wages haven’t. ( You can find Brown’s research article here ).