Archives

August 31, 2015 - The Economy: A Light in the Black

by Jason Norris, CFA,Executive Vice President of Research Ferguson Wellman, Portland A Light in the Black What a week! With concerns about growth in China, continued deterioration of the Chinese equity market and U.S. investors rushed to the sidelines by redeeming over $17 billion in equity mutual funds and ETFs. […]


August 28, 2015 - Alert over “Fair Pay” rule implementation

U.S. Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce submitted comments sharply criticizing the administration’s proposed Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR Council) regulation and proposed Department of Labor guidance that would implement Executive Order 13673, “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces.” “This rulemaking steps well outside the bounds of any constitutional […]


August 27, 2015 - Dave’s Killer Bread sold for $275M…Now what?

Dave’s Killer Bread Being Sold By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation Dave’s Killer Bread, the best-selling organic bread in the nation, is being sold to Flower Foods, Inc. for $275 million. The company, founded by the Dahl family as Nature Bake in 1955, assumed the name of its best-selling variety […]


August 26, 2015 - Chart: Uneven job recovery across Oregon

Oregon Employment Department, Recently, we posted about the recovery of Oregon’s jobs to pre-recession levels across higher-, lower-, and mid-wage industries alike in the fourth quarter of 2014. We also mentioned that Oregon’s total nonfarm employment also returned to (and exceeded) pre-recession levels in the fourth quarter.


August 25, 2015 - Oregon NFIB hires new director

By Oregon NFIB America’s largest and leading small-business association today named its new Oregon state director. In selecting Anthony K. Smith, the National Federation of Independent Business, which has 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including 7,500 in Oregon, went with an Oregon native who has extensive political experience and […]


August 24, 2015 - Portland streets shrink as population grows

By Economist Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational It’s not an illusion. Portland traffic is getting worse: Longer drive times, more congestion, angrier drivers, and “active transportation” that should be renamed “aggressive transportation.” And, it’s no accident. It’s all part of the City’s Vision Zero plan for transportation. One consequence of Vision […]


August 21, 2015 - Business fee scam grows

By Oregon Better Business Bureau Own or work at a small business? Be on the look out for a scam that attempts to fool businesses into paying fees to stay in compliance with government regulations that don’t even exist. How the Scam Works: You receive an official-looking letter in the […]


August 20, 2015 - Labor Board dismisses NW University union case

By Bullard Law, Portland law firm By Michael G. McClory Ahead of the opening kickoff for the 2015 college football season, the National Labor Relations Board has punted.  The Board dismissed a petition related to efforts to unionize the Northwestern University football team.  The dismissal, though, ducked the most contested […]


August 19, 2015 - Oregon jobless reverts to post-recession trend

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog Just a quick update on the employment report. See our friends over at the Employment Department for the official release. The latest employment report for Oregon shows healthy job gains from the employer survey in July but a large increase in […]


August 18, 2015 - Legislature was tough on small business

Oregon NFIB Small business owners faced an onslaught of new proposals and laws from 2015 legislators. “Oregon’s 2015 legislative session became one of the most anti-business sessions in recent history,” says NFIB/Oregon State Director Jan Meekcoms. “For small business, this became a session of defensive action.” The regular session ended […]