By Gail Krumenauer Oregon Employment Dept. Workforce Oregon ranks high among the states in union membership. In 2010, Oregon had a 16.2 percent union membership rate of employed workers. This figure ranked 10th highest among the 50 states and District of Columbia. Private-sector union membership (9.1%) ranked 12th highest nationwide, […]

By Jim Dale Stoel Rives, Oregon Law Firm World of Employment On the final day of the sixty-first Legislature, Idaho lawmakers passed a bill which provides varying levels of tax credits for private employers who hire at least one employee after April 15, 2011. Governor Otter signed the legislation amending […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, One of Oregon’s most important business leaders, Phil Knight of NIKE, recently spoke before a national audience on the Oprah Winfrey show and discussed his life, his business and his success.  Below are highlights of the interview: On the Nike logo KNIGHT: “Nike was the […]

By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics Here’s some perspective: history, demand and supply. Brief history of gold price: Gold had sold for $35 an ounce, then shot up to $675 during the last bubble, peaking in January 1980. (I’m using monthly averages throughout this article.) That’s cool, buying at $25 […]

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Oregon Employment Trend Takes a Breather After Five Strong Months By Oregon Employment Department Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.0 percent in March, essentially unchanged from 10.2 percent in February. March marked Oregon’s lowest unemployment rate in 26 months. Oregon’s rate has not been lower since January 2009, when […]

Oregon Forecast Highlights 2011 Q2 Dan Hamilton, CLU Center for Economic Research & Forecasting Oregon’s recent economic performance has exceeded my expectations. Much of the 2011 first quarter data is not final, but it appears that we have enough to understand that it was strong. It was atypically strong for […]

State Treasurer:Senate Bill 19 that could save Oregon taxpayers tens of millions — SB 19 allows the state to save debt costs by switching to lower-cost bonds SALEM – Gov. John Kitzhaber today signed into law an Oregon Treasury-sponsored bill that could foster cost savings worth tens of millions, which […]

Revisions to Health Care Reform Law: Oregon Readies Passage of Oregon Health Care Reform By Barran Liebman Oregon law firm This year, along with April showers, the beginning of spring has brought some noteworthy developments in the ongoing saga of Health Care Reform. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Challenges to […]

AOI Employment Law Watch List By J.L. Wilson Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate The deadline for legislation to move out of its original committee is this week. All legislation that is not passed out of its original committee this week is considered dead. For groups like AOI, it’s […]