Record Initial Claims for Unemployment Benefits Continue in Oregon By Oregon Employment Department, During the week starting March 22, the Oregon Employment Department received 92,700 initial claims for Unemployment Insurance benefits. That represented a 21 percent increase from the previous record during the week starting March 15. By comparison, the […]

By Dr. Eric Fruits Cascade Policy Institute Coronavirus has hit the economy hard. Nearly all the stock market gains from the past two or three years have been wiped out. While it’s painful for investors and retirees, it’s likely to fuel the third major PERS crisis since the dot-com bust. […]

By NFIB, The Department of Labor (DOL) has released its first round of guidance and required posters for new paid leave mandates enacted by Congress in response to the coronavirus crisis. These mandates, which cover the vast majority of small businesses, will take effect on April 1st. All businesses covered […]

By Charlotte Hodde Barran Liebman Oregon Law Firm, Buried deep in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) FAQs related to federal paid COVID-19 leave and published previously were concrete examples of information verifying the employee need for Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Expanded FMLA (EFMLA) leave. The IRS published these […]

Tim Duy, University of Oregon Economic Indicators 1.) My column at Bloomberg from last week: The Federal Reserve has taken unprecedented steps in recent weeks to cushion the U.S. economy from the effects of the expanding coronavirus pandemic, including slashing its benchmark interest rate back to zero and eliciting the […]

By Oregon Small Business Association The Oregon Small Business Association urges Legislature to stop the destructive CAT tax immediately. The first quarterly estimated payments for Oregon’s new “Corporate Activities Tax” on sales (not profits) are due April 30, even as many businesses’ cash flows collapse under Gov. Kate Brown’s orders […]

Oregon Attorney General, As the Coronavirus takes a growing toll on peoples’ pocketbooks, there are reports that the federal government will soon be sending money by check or direct deposit to qualifying Americans. The details are still being worked out, but there are some important things to keep in mind, […]

By NFIB, Governors across the country are declaring disaster status to allow small businesses in their states to receive a disaster loan through the U.S. Small Business Association. The loans are made available to designated states and will provide low-interest federal disaster loans to small businesses suffering economic injury as […]

By Cascade Policy Institute, At the first—and likely only—public hearing on Metro’s “supportive housing” tax measure, one resident asked a question on everyone’s mind: “Our money isn’t being spent the way it should be now, so what assurances do we have that this will be any different?” The question highlights […]

Barran Liebman Oregon Law Firm, The CDC and state and local health authorities continue to increase warnings regarding the danger of COVID-19 and its community spread. In response, the EEOC has issued a new statement and updated its Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act guidance. […]