Archives

September 8, 2011 - Oregon sees rise on Wells Fargo scam calls

SCAM ALERT: WELLS FARGO PHISHING SCAM By Oregon Attorney General The Oregon Department of Justice Consumer Hotline has received a surge of complaints about telephone calls claiming to be from Wells Fargo Bank. The caller is telling consumers that their debit cards are locked and that they should provide their […]


September 7, 2011 - Economic Forecast: How Long Until We’re Back to Normal?

By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics This is an ugly calculation. My recently updated economic forecast through 2013 shows a wide gap between actual output and potential output. That is roughly equivalent to unemployment being above normal of five percent or so. In the last year of my forecast horizon, […]


September 6, 2011 - Walden: AT&T merger & Oregon jobs

Rep. Greg Walden receives direct assurance that no layoffs will occur at T-Mobile call centers in Oregon should merger be approved No layoffs expected at Redmond call center Congressman Greg Walden WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Greg Walden received assurances from an AT&T official that no layoffs would occur at T-Mobile […]


September 5, 2011 - Survey: Employers favor Emotional Intelligence over IQ

Seventy-One Percent of Employers Say They Value Emotional Intelligence over IQ, By CareerBuilder CHICAGO,– With smaller staffs, higher stress levels and uncertainties around the economy, are employers changing what they look for in prospective employees? Thirty-four percent of hiring managers said they are placing greater emphasis on emotional intelligence when […]


September 4, 2011 - Mexican truck progress = U.S. Jobs

by Sean Hackbarth U.S. Chamber “[T]wo Mexican trucking companies are on track to receive U.S. operating authority by the end of the month,” the Houston chronicle reports , in “a development that will help hundreds of U.S. companies regain their Mexican customers.” When these carriers receive preliminary operating authority, the […]


September 3, 2011 - Your guitar may be illegal

The CEO of Gibson guitars defends his company against federal investigators who have twice raided his stores saying that Gibson Guitars are using illegal wood. Gibson Guitars says they have been using the same wood from India for the past 17 years. Critics contend that this case might mean several […]


September 2, 2011 - Oregon’s Workweek Returning to Normal

by David Cooke Oregon Employment Department In June, the average workweek for Oregon’s private-sector nonfarm payroll workers dropped to 33.6 hours from 34.4 hours in May. The June figure was slightly above the June 2010 average of 33.4 hours, and up from 33.0 in June 2009. Thus, the workweek has […]


September 1, 2011 - Labor Board to define Facebook privacy rules for employees

Oregon Law FirmThe NLRB Seeks to Define When Facebook Posts are Protected Barran Liebman Oregon Law Firm The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently released three memoranda from its Division of Advice which help outline the scope of protection workers enjoy when posting complaints about work on Facebook. In each […]


August 31, 2011 - Why everyone is revising their forecast downwards

By CLU Center for Economics Research and Forecasting We’ve seen more and more forecasters and analysts revising their forecast down. In fact, after being among the lowest for years, we’re now almost consensus. Remember, they came to us. Downward revisions to United States gross domestic product (GDP) have driven most […]


August 30, 2011 - 1 in 3 Oregon homes sales are foreclosures

Foreclosures Still Plague Oregon Housing Market Account for One in Three Home Sales By Oregon Tax News Foreclosures continue to flood Oregon’s housing market and accounted for one-third of all home sales this spring. At 33 percent, Oregon’s housing market is in the top 10 in terms of foreclosed homes […]