By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Tariff proposals and enactments continue to build in recent months. The situation has not risen all the way to a full-blown trade war, or at least not yet.  But we need to call it something. Trade fisticuffs doesn’t quite sound right, so […]

By John A. Charles, Jr. Cascade Policy Institute Metro recently decided to refer a $652.8 million bond measure to the November ballot. If approved by voters, it would authorize Metro to borrow money either to purchase existing housing units or to subsidize the construction of new ones. The loans would […]

By Oregon Employment Department Continued job growth and record low unemployment are making it difficult for Oregon businesses to fill current vacancies, and Oregon’s economy is expected to create 263,000 total job openings each year through 2027. These are the findings of two new reports released by the Oregon Employment […]

By Oregon Employment Department, In Oregon, about 124,000 workers speak English less than “very well” according to the American Community Survey responses collected from 2012 to 2016. This represents 7 percent of all Oregon workers. This group includes workers who don’t speak English, speak English “not well,” and speak English […]

By Oregon US Attorney Office, Oregon Woman Pleads Guilty for Role in Forced Labor and Visa Fraud Scheme Involving Thai Restaurant Workers Defendant financially benefited from co-defendant’s use of debts, fraud, threats of financial and reputational harm, and other means to compel victims to work at restaurants Tanya Jumroon, also […]

By Julianne Henley Miller, Nash, Graham & Dunn NW Law firm, Did you know you can federally register a scent as a brand? Hasbro, Inc.’s recent registration of the smell of Play-Doh “toy modeling compounds” has highlighted one of the lesser-known brand categories: scents. The United States defines a trademark […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analaysis This post circles back on the recent Headwinds and Tailwinds presentation I gave at the Northwest Economic Research Center’s forecast breakfast. It also ties directly into the previous post on Oregon’s industrial structure overall. The biggest high-tech takeaway from an industrial structure […]

By Cascade Employers Association, Every business has, at some point, struggled with recruitment. The inability to find applicants means that sometimes you hire someone just to get a “warm body” in the seat, and hope they can complete the duties well enough to get by. In cases like these, staffing […]

By Benjamin P. O’Glasser Bullard Law, Portland based law firm Oregon’s predictive scheduling law goes into effect on July 1, 2018. We previously wrote about Oregon’s predictive scheduling law in August 2017. In advance of the law’s effective date, BOLI has issued final administrative rules that will govern its administration […]

By Dr. Eric Fruits, Oregon Economist, This has been a big year for business in the courts. A U.S. district court approved the AT&T-Time Warner merger, the Supreme Court upheld Amex’s agreements with merchants, and a circuit court pushed back on the Federal Trade Commission’s vague and heavy handed policing […]