By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s minimum wage will increase each year through 2022, as outlined in Senate Bill 1532, which was passed on March 2, 2016.  The Oregon Employment Department has studied this topic from many angles. For example, we know minimum wage jobs account for about 5 percent of […]

Dr. Eric Fruits Oregon Small Business Association For much of the past year, economists employed by the State of Oregon have described the state’s employment growth as running at “full throttle.” Even the most recent forecast from the state says the Oregon’s job growth is full throttle. The dictionary, however, […]

By Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, In a few short weeks it will be hard to miss the battle taking place on Oregon’s ballot between those advocating for more tax revenue for state government versus those against it. The $6 billion tax increase proposal is the largest in state history […]

By Cascade Policy Institute, Once again, Portland led the nation this July with its home prices rising 12.4 percent year-over-year versus the national average of just 5.0 percent. As of April, Portland remained the 12th most expensive rental market in the nation. These numbers are not unrelated. Housing prices are […]

EEOC Refreshes Guidance on Retaliation By Allison Jacobsen Retaliation is the most frequent basis for discrimination claims made by employees, and charges alleging retaliation have nearly doubled since 1998. Retaliation claims arise when employees allege that they suffered an adverse employment action because they engaged in protected activity, such as […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog A year ago our office asked “Is 2015 Peak Renter?” We laid out a straightforward case examining the three main underlying drivers for the shift into rentership over the past decade: household finances, demographics, and preferences and tastes. We know the […]

By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon, It’s not your imagination, Portland is increasingly becoming a city of renters. The U.S. Homeownership rate in the second quarter of 2016 fell to its lowest level since 1965 – 62.9%. Economists and pundits are split on the reasons why. Some argue that it is […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, leading a broad coalition including the Texas Association of Business, National Automobile Dealers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Wholesaler Distributors, National Federation of Independent Business, National Retail Federation, and more than 50 other national and Texas business […]

Barran Liebman Oregon Law Firm OSHA’s New Rule Affects Post-Accident Drug Testing Policies By Nicole Elgin and Sean Ray The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued its final rule to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” and to deter retaliation against workers who report injuries. Although the new […]

Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate Revenue Forecast Reflects Growing Economy with Clouds on Horizon National and state economic reports produced a mixed-bag of news in the past two weeks. On the positive side, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that household incomes increased 5.2% in 2015, the largest gain […]