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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Oregon’s Unfunded Pension Obligations: Highest in the U.S. — New Academic Study Shows the Urgency for States to Address Public Pension Liabilities By Oregon Prosperity Project A comprehensive study of unfunded pension liabilities released this summer by two academic economists at Northwestern University and University of Rochester shows the extreme […]