Another Christmas/New Year’s vacation in Oregon nearly done, and the state never disappoints in supplying examples of shooting itself in the economic foot.

From The Bend Bulletin:

Oregon’s minimum wage — already one of the highest in the nation — increases from $7.95 to $8.40 per hour on Thursday, and while a boon to some workers, the new rate likely means higher prices for food, gas and other services.

The 5.4 percent jump in hourly minimum pay is an automatic cost-of-living increase written into the 2002 ballot measure. The increase makes workers at the lower end of the wage scale marginally more expensive compared to higher-paid employees, many who are having their pay frozen or cut. Wonder if some of these minimum-wage workers will lose their jobs instead of getting paid more.

The Oregon Restaurant Association, which is going to ask the Legislature to remove the automatic COLA this year, notes that Oregon does not allow a tip credit. From more from ORA, see this. Also relevant is this from The Oregonian, “Portland’s restaurant scene in trouble”

Elsewhere, in tourism communities like Port Orford on the southern Oregon Coast, first high gas prices and now the recession have just hammered small business owners — many who rely on minimum-wage employees.

There are many nice things to be said for Port Orford, though.

Full-scale shot here.

And for a rainbow over the railroad bridge at Reedsport, go here.

From today’s Washington Examiner, an article about D.C.-area teens not wanting to work, not having to work, just not working this summer.

Today’s teens “have been more sheltered than any others in history,” said Reena Nadler, a researcher at Great Falls-based generational consulting firm LifeCourse Associates. She cited seat belt laws, “Baby on Board” signs, school locker checks and near-ubiquitous security cameras.

Those factors, along with unprecedented levels of like-mindedness and even fondness for their parents, have tempered the cries for independence that led previous generations of teens to work menial jobs for minimum wage, Nadler said.

 Minimum wage, huh. Might that be a factor, as well? From the Department of Labor:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor reminds employers and employees that the federal minimum wage will increase to $6.55 on Thursday, July 24. With this change, employees who are covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will be entitled to pay at no less than $6.55 per hour.

This increase is the second of three provided by the enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. A third minimum wage increase to $7.25 an hour will become effective on July 24, 2009. Last year, on July 24, the minimum wage increased to $5.85 an hour.

The Department of Labor announces the July unemployment figures on Friday. We’ll be quite interested to see what the numbers are for teen workers. Increasing marginal costs might just have an impact.