Nurseries have many issues to be concerned with in this economy, but a higher minimum wage will not be one of them – at least, not this year. Oregon Secretary of Labor Brad Avakian announced today that the Oregon minimum wage will remain at $8.40 an hour for 2010. By law, the wage automatically goes up every year based on inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. However, the index this year actually decreased by 1.5 percent. Despite this deflation, the law does not allow for the minimum wage to go down, so it will remain where it is. Many growers say that while they pay workers considerably more than minimum wage, the benchmark has a direct effect on what the labor market will bear.