By US Senator Ron Wyden Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said today he has introduced legislation with U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) that would help financially support local news organizations through tax credits to incentivize hiring more journalists, subscriptions, and advertising from local small businesses. […]

By Naomi D. Johnson & Liani J. Reeves Bullard Law Oregon law firm The Oregon State Legislature adjourned its 2021 session at the end of June, but not before passing a slew of bills, some of which bring noteworthy changes for Oregon employers. Many of the new laws and updates […]

By NFIB, NFIB President & CEO Brad Close penned a new op-ed in The Hill explaining how plans to erode the Small Business Deduction would set a terrible precedent and open the door to further tax hikes on small businesses. Close notes how the Small Business Deduction is one of […]

By Oregon Employment Department, This week we’ve shared the latest unemployment and labor force numbers from June, and job vacancy totals during spring 2021 in Oregon. Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.6% in June. At any given time during spring 2021, Oregon’s private employers had 98,000 job openings. This makes […]

US Attorney Oregon District Press Release, A Newport, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison today for creating websites to illegally distribute thousands of copyright-protected movies and television shows and evading taxes on the profits of his illicit endeavor. Talon White, 31, was sentenced to 12 months and one day […]

Timothy A. DuyDirector, Oregon Economic Forum Department of Economics, University of Oregon Below is the University of Oregon State of Oregon Economic Indicators for May 2021. The release date is June 30, 2021. Special thanks to our sponsor, KeyBank. Link to full report (with charts!) here. Oregon’s economic recovery gained […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, Nike has lost its battle in the European Union’s general court to squash a 2019 investigation into how the Portland-based sportswear giant pays its overseas taxes. The European Commission is probing claims that the Netherlands gave state aid to Nike by letting the company shift […]

By US Chamber, As America continues to reopen, small business optimism around hiring prospects are muted, as an equal number say they are either more optimistic or more pessimistic compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to a poll taken June 16 – 23, 2021 and released by the […]

By Jordan Ramis, Oregon law firm On July 8, 2021, OSHA-Oregon passed two temporary rules to address exposure to high ambient temperatures, OAR 437-002-0155 and OAR 437-004-1130. The rules are identical, adding a specific rule to the General Occupational Safety and Health Rules and a specific rule to the administrative […]

  Disparate Impacts of the Pandemic Recession in Oregon By Oregon Employment Department, The pandemic recession came upon a healthy economy with record high total employment and a record-low unemployment rate in spring 2020. Within two months’ time, Oregon lost 286,000 jobs and unemployment spiked to an all-time high of […]