States at Full Employment, A Prime-Age EPOP Story Oregon Office OF Economic Analysis By Josh Lehner The key economic question economists are trying to answer today is whether or not the U.S. economy is at full employment. Given it is more a concept then a hard calculation, you look for […]

  Retailers: ‘A Lot of Work Ahead’ For Health Care Reform by Treacy Reynolds, NFR The National Retail Federation issued the following statement from Vice President for health care policy Neil Trautwein, following the Congressional Budget Office’s release of its latest score for the American Health Care Act. The score measures […]

  Repeal of 2013 cut, return of gross receipts tax idea have Main Street on edge NFIB Oregon A draft plan made public today by the Oregon State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Tax Reform has small businesses on edge over two provisions, according to their largest representative association.

Twenty-Three Counties Had Low Historic Unemployment Rates in April via Oregon Workforce and Economic Information Twenty-three counties were at or tied with their historic low unemployment rates. Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April at 2.8 percent. Grant County (6.9%) registered the highest rate for the […]

Stronger Privacy Protections Pass out of Oregon Legislature   Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum praised the Oregon legislature for passing legislation (HB 2090) that will update Oregon’s consumer law to hold companies accountable for their online privacy policies. Sen. Chuck Riley carried the bill in the Senate, and Reps. Jennifer […]

Overtaxed and Underbuilt Oregon Cascade Policy Institute by John Charles, Jr. An Oregon Legislative committee is proposing a massive series of tax increases to pay for various transportation projects. The proposal calls for higher taxes on vehicle registration, increased gas taxes, a new sales tax on motor vehicle purchases, a […]

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) tells House Ways and Means Chairman the time is now for comprehensive tax reform by Jack Mozloom The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) told House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) today that small business owners expect comprehensive tax reform this […]

May Forecast Brings More Revenue, Little Clarity The Oregon Prosperity Project Since February, May 16 has been circled on Legislative calendars as the day budget talks would turn the corner and head down the stretch. The last forecast before the end of the 2017 Session would provide clarity, telling Legislators […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, There is an important bill, Senate Bill 596 sponsored by State Senator Tim Knopp, which is up for a hearing today in the Senate Finance and Revenue. Oregon’s small businesses – which provide a tremendous number of jobs for Oregon’s economy – are just now […]

A Lack of Applicants in a Growing Economy via Oregon Workforce and Economic Information Oregon businesses reported 50,800 jobs vacancies at any given time in 2016. They reported nearly two-thirds (64%) of those job vacancies as difficult to fill. Four primary challenges accounted for three-fourths of all difficult-to-fill job vacancies: […]