By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s truck transportation industry leveled off in 2016, averaging 18,800 jobs, ending a six-year, post-Great Recession growth spurt. The industry’s employment held steady in both 2017 and 2018. At its 2006 pre-Great Recession peak, truck transportation averaged 19,700 jobs. Truck transportation hit bottom in 2010 with […]

By Oregon Small Business Association After former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick complained, Nike Inc. pulled a sneaker bearing a Betsy Ross flag on the heel that it had created to help the nation celebrate the Fourth of July.  One on hand the controversy has made the show a hot item […]

By Lindsay Hill, Director of Compensation Cascade Employers Association As part of the 2016 Oregon Legislature, Senate Bill 1532, Oregon’s minimum wage will be increasing again on July 1, 2019. The actual amount of the increase and overall minimum hourly wage varies largely by county. According to the Bureau of […]

By Oregon Small Business Association The Oregon House and Senate has passed House Bill 2005 which mandates a new paid family and medical leave tax that establishes a new state-run insurance program. This applies to businesses with 25 or more employees and to employees who earned more than $1000 in […]

Oregon Congressman Rep. Peter DeFazio Rep. Peter DeFazio, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, announced that his legislation to ensure members of the United States Coast Guard—our nation’s fifth military service—receive paychecks in the event of a federal government shutdown was approved during a Committee markup. The […]

Family leave tax still may become law in the final hours. By Oregon Small Business Association One of the final bills to be debated and voted on in the final few days of the 2019 Legislative Session is the fate of the paid family leave bill HB 2005-B. This bill […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley released the following statement after the Senate passed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act of 2019. “The U.S. Chamber applauds the Senate for moving this […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s private employers had 58,000 job vacancies at any given time in 2018. They reported a majority of them (33,000 or 57%) as difficult to fill. In a mature economic expansion with unemployment rates at or near historic lows for two years, a lack of applicants […]

By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon, People are selling T-shirts, key chains, mugs, and other items bearing the state seal of Oregon, but the state isn’t making any money from those sales. However, that could change under a bill cosponsored by Sen. Bill Hansell, an Athena Republican, according to The Oregonian/Oregon […]

By Liani J. Reeves Bullard Law, Oregon law firm As the Oregon Legislature has been publicly forced to respond to allegations of workplace sexual harassment occurring in its own halls, Senate Bill 726, also known as the Oregon Workplace Fairness Act, passed through both chambers without much resistance. The Senate […]