Oregon’s new three-tier minimum wage law is nothing if not confusing. If all goes well, however, rules on how the law will work, which are being created by the Bureau of Labor and Industry, should make things clearer.

While the law raises the minimum wage across the state, it’s a tiered raise that changes depending on location, and it will take six years to be fully realized.

That makes sense. If a person lives in Crook County, he’s living in the region where the minimum wage increase will eventually reach $12.50 in 2022. The increase will be higher in Deschutes County, $13.50 in 2022, and higher still in the Portland metropolitan area, $14.75 in 2022.

It’s reasonable to pay according to where someone works.

Otherwise, it could create odd situations of minimum wage pay disparity in a region.

The rules are a bit trickier when a person actually spends time working in two different regions.

Thus, if a person works for a single employer but spends part of his or her time in Deschutes County and part of it in Jefferson County, with its lower minimum wage, the employer has two choices. Without extra record keeping, wages can be paid at the rate set for the higher wage region. If the employer wants to pay based on where the employee is actually working, he or she must keep records on just how much time is spent in each region.

In the end, unfortunately, the law might not bring the prosperity some expect.

Only about 5 percent of the workforce makes the minimum, mostly women 25 or younger and working part time, according to the state Employment Department. Too, Oregon’s minimum wage today has the same buying power as 1980’s $3.10 per hour minimum did.

Moreover, while small increases apparently have a relatively small impact on the economy, the Employment Department says, no one knows for certain what happens with bigger increases. We’re about to find out.