By October 1st, 2022, a new Oregon law will go into effect that bans hiring bonuses in the name of equality (HB 2818). The current practice of Tri-Met transit offering $7,500 and McMennamins restaurants offering $1,000 hiring bonuses will soon be illegal.
If minorities are suffering from unemployment and companies are facing historic labor shortages, what harm does it do to offer them signing bonuses? Now it’s making things worse.
The new law says if you offer a hiring bonus you have to offer ti to every single current employee, making it impossible.
While Oregon outlaws hiring bonuses, other states are raising their offers.
- Montana is offering $12,500 to hire nurses …as Oregon suffers one of the worst nursing shortages in the country.
- New Mexico is offering $25,000 to hire teachers …while Oregon is experiencing a job recovery that is worse than the national average.
- Idaho has hired 155% above its pandemic loss, while Oregon remains under.
Oregon could be a job boom state, but instead we are a job-bust state as new taxes, and new government bans work to keep Oregonians and minorities job seekers down at a time when they need to be lifted up.
