Being an election year, you can expect a great deal of debate on everything from the economy to the standard of education across the nation. One of the biggest bones of contention this year seems to be NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and other trade agreements with countries way farther to out east. While one candidate vows to bring jobs home, the other claims that foreign relations have never been better and so it goes.
Unfortunately, for the average blue collar worker who is struggling to put food on the table for his wife and children, these debates don’t really mean a thing unless someone can explain how they are going to enable lower paid workers to earn more and spend less. The consensus seems to be that nothing will be solved quickly or easily and even a change in political power in Washington won’t bring about the changes necessary to win the war on poverty.
Because of this, many companies are taking matters into their own hands in order to give their employees a better shot at life. Families and businesses see states like Oregon as an answer to a prayer because the cost of living is lower and there are more amenities available to the average working Joe. Here are just a few reasons why East Coast businesses see Oregon as a dream come true.
Comparing New Jersey with Oregon – Minimum Wage and the Cost of Living
In order to understand just how big the difference is between the states of Oregon and New Jersey in terms of the average family working a 9 to 5, the minimum wage in New Jersey is $8.59 but in Oregon it is $9.45. That’s almost $1 an hour more in a state where the cost of living is already much, much lower. The cost of living index for New Jersey is currently at 218 while it is only 196 in Oregon. That is a 22 point differential and huge. So then with a higher minimum wage and a lower cost of living index, Oregon is by far the better state for a blue collar worker to live in.
Real Estate Comparison – Cost of the Average Home
Then there is real estate to consider. In New Jersey it would be relatively impossible for a minimum wage earner to afford a single family home as the median sale price of a home in New Jersey is roughly $316 thousand while the median sale price in Oregon is $275 thousand. The one saving grace for New Jersey are the stable HELOC rates NJ boasts which can put together a great refinance package for those looking to do a bit of home improvement so that they can flip their homes in the near future when property values rise as they are expected to do.
Does Minimum Wage Affect Small Business in Oregon?
It might be argued that the higher minimum wage in Oregon might negatively affect the way businesses view moving out of New Jersey to states on the West Coast. Actually, that doesn’t really affect businesses as much as the higher cost of living which also affects the amount businesses spend on operations. The cost of everything is higher from gas to groceries, electricity to city water. Yes, businesses will be paying a slightly higher base rate of pay to hourly workers but they will not be paying nearly the amount needed to keep their business operational in the East. The amount of savings each business realizes due to lower operational costs more than compensates for higher wages.
Employee Incentive the Real Key
Not only is it more expensive to live back east in states like New Jersey but the land is more highly saturated. Oregon still has a tremendous amount of ‘wide open spaces’ in which children can enjoy a bit of nature and enough room to play and grow. Consider the fact that New Jersey is a small state only 7,357 sq. miles in size with a total population of almost 9 million people. Now look at Oregon that is almost 100,000 square miles with only about 4 million people residing there. Think about this for a moment. Oregon has less than half the population of New Jersey but much more than 10 times the area in land. That, in itself, is a huge draw!
With no state sales tax, a higher minimum wage, lower cost of living and enough space to spread out comfortably for generations to come, no wonder businesses see the benefits of setting up shop in God’s Country. Surrounded by mountain ranges wherever you look from east to west, Oregon continues to attract companies and families and it looks as though it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
