Business News Note: An IHS Global Insight analysis showed projected annual employment growth for the period 2011 to 2017.  The West is home to some of the largest projected employment gains with Arizona, Utah and Idaho in the top 5 growth states.  The North East dominates much of the weakest […]

Senator Wyden is cosponsor of Digital Surveillance Legislation Press Release of Senator Wyden , Oregon Washington, D.C. – Surrounded by technology that was considered cutting edge when major digital surveillance laws were written, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) welcomed U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R- Ill.) as a cosponsor of the […]

Business News update: Last week the Portland Business Alliance recently released responses to its first round of candidate questionnaires. We list two key small business questions from the questionnaire to show how the candidates responded. Please view the whole report and all questions here BUSINESS LICENSE TAX: The City of […]

By Cascade Policy Institute According to the U.S. Department of Labor, almost $19 billion in state unemployment benefits were paid in error over the last three years. Oregon paid an estimated $392 million in error ― about 12.2% of all state unemployment benefits paid during that period. The Labor Department’s […]

New camera allows you focus after picture taken Business News Note: California camera company Lytro has introduced a new camera that allows you to adjust the focus after you have taken the picture. Interestingly, Lytro is not rolling this out as a new feature but as a new camera to […]

Housing bottom? Not yet. By CLU Center for Economic Research & Forecasting Weakness in housing activity and housing prices continues to be a major drag on the overall economy. My colleagues at CERF have long maintained that the homeownership rate (HOR) needs to fall back to its historical norm of […]

Theft rings push shoplifting rates to 5-year high By Oregon Small Business Association Shoplifting appears to be a growing problem for America’s retailers, and thieves are growing in their sophistication. That’s according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association, a prominent industry trade group that recently released its annual report detailing […]

Press Release below by Congressman Greg Walden WASHINGTON, D.C. —…[I]n letters to Oregon’s job creators this week, Rep. Walden is asking, “What stands in the way of you creating one more job?” He will highlight some of the submitted ideas in speeches on the floor of the House of Representatives […]

Chemical Regulation May Move From State to Local Level Balkanization of regulatory programs in Oregon? Betsy Earls Associated Oregon Industries Following recent events in California, there are emerging efforts in Oregon to move regulatory controls from the state level down to the hundreds of local governments. A current example is […]

By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog Recently, The Oregonian ran an article about the potential economic damage to the area economy if the NBA season were delayed or canceled. Since they have already canceled the first part of the season it is worth thinking carefully about how big an impact […]