OKLAHOMA CITY — Raising Oklahoma’s minimum wage will require more robust enforcement at the state level to ensure that businesses are actually paying the higher rates, a report found.
If voters approve a June ballot measure that gradually raises the minimum wage $15 an hour, the Oklahoma Department of Labor will need to increase the number of wage and hour investigators to hold employers accountable, according to a report from the Workplace Justice Lab at Northwestern University and Rutgers University.
The state agency currently only employs three people to oversee wage enforcement. Each investigator individually oversees enforcement for 32,000 businesses and 430,000 workers, the report found.
“Our research consistently shows that when the minimum wage rises, violations increase as well,” Jenn Round, a coauthor of the report, said in a statement. “Oklahoma will need to hire more investigators to ensure that workers actually receive the wages SQ 832 promises.”
State Question 832, which will appear on the June 16 primary ballot, asks voters to raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage by $1.50 a year until it reaches $15 in 2029, starting at $10.50 this year. That rate could then continue to increase beginning in 2030 based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s consumer price index
Over 28,000 Oklahomans are already paid below the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour every year, the report found.
Still, wage losses for Oklahomans amount to about $109 million per year, which totals $1.6 billion over 15 years, the report found.
Oklahoma’s investigations unit recovered $1.25 million in wages during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the report.
The average wage of an underpaid Oklahoman is about $5 per hour, according to the report. Of the Oklahomans being paid below the minimum wage, about 30% are working in food service, which is the most likely industry to underpay.
Oklahoma women are 75% more likely to be paid below the minimum wage than men, the report found.
Workers without a high school diploma are about twice as likely to be paid below minimum wage, according to the report.
“These workers are barely scraping by to begin with,” Jake Barnes, the report’s lead author, said in a statement. “It’s very hard to take care of yourself and your family on $7.25. It’s virtually impossible on $5. Unfortunately, our research shows that’s the reality for many workers across the state.”
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.