By Oregon Employment Department  Only 12 of Oregon’s 36 counties saw their home values rise between 2010 and 2014; all were rural with the exception of Benton County. Wheeler County’s median home value climbed the most since 2010, rising by $27,700 (21.8%) to $126,800. Wheeler County’s in-state ranking also improved, […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog The border effect, or the border tax effect, is a very real. Our office has previously written about it regarding sin/vice taxes, retail sales in the Gorge, and a broader look at Oregon-Washington taxes, including an academic paper I, along with […]

House Votes to Raise Cap on Noneconomic Damages Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate HB 4136, increasing the cap on noneconomic damages in wrongful death cases from $500,000 to $1.5 million, passed the House on Wednesday, February 10. The debate, which was quite contentious, resulted in a 33-27 vote. […]

Barran Liebman Oregon Law Firm Brace Yourselves for Oregon’s New and Unprecedented Minimum Wage System By Josephine Ko Beginning July 1, 2016, the State of Oregon will be pioneering a unique and complex multi-tiered minimum wage system with significant annual increases. No other state has a minimum wage system like […]

National Retail Federation The National Retail Federation said joint employer standards issued today by the Labor Department are too broad and that Obama administration attempts to hold more companies responsible for the action of subcontractors or franchisees should be overturned by Congress. “The Labor Department’s concept of a joint employer […]

Oregon Brewers Guild, Cascade Brewing has announced a partnership with James Clay to distribute its bottled Northwest sour ales throughout the United Kingdom. The agreement brings Cascade ales to the UK for the first time; the first batch of Strawberry, Blackcap Raspberry, Sang Noir and Cranberry starting hitting retailers at […]

Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate On Tuesday, February 9, the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources voted on party-lines to refer SB 1574 (cap and trade) to the Joint Ways and Means Committee. The importance of the referral is that the committee does not have the same […]

By Oregon House Democrat Office, The Oregon House today voted unanimously to clamp down on phony “notario businesses,” which purport to be legitimate immigration or legal consultants but in reality prey on vulnerable populations. House Bill 4128 came out of the Notario Fraud Task Force, which put together a comprehensive […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog This edition of the Graph of the Week continues our focus on migration into Oregon. Migration is very important to the state and one of the two main reasons Oregon outperforms the typical state during expansions. This also sets the stage […]

By Steve Buckstien, Cascade Policy Institute Picture two Oregon workers. One, a highly skilled and educated woman named Kate, earns well over $40 per hour based on a 40-hour work week. The other—a younger, less skilled, and less educated woman also named Kate—has a job that pays her Oregon’s minimum […]