By Eric Fruits, Ph.D. Cascade Policy Institute With the retirement of Bob Stacey in October, five of Metro’s seven council seats will be on next year’s ballot. The 2022 election can bring an entirely new supermajority to Metro Council. Voters now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to consider the future of […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s total employment is projected to grow by 317,600 jobs between 2020 and 2030, according to new projections from the Oregon Employment Department. The projections point to historically high job growth between 2020 and 2030 and accounts for recovery from low employment levels in 2020 due […]

By Christine M. Zinter Bullard Law By now, you’ve heard that on Saturday, November 6, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay order, blocking OSHA from implementing its contentious vaccine mandate until the “grave statutory and constitutional issues” related to the law could be addressed. […]

By NFIB NFIB filed a legal challenge against the Biden Administration’s emergency temporary standard, which would mandate businesses with 100 or more employees require workers take the COVID-19 vaccine or undergo weekly testing and wear masks while at work. NFIB filed a petition for review at the United States Court […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, The labor market is tight. Our office remains labor supply optimists in that workers will return in greater numbers in the months ahead. However with wages booming, this process may take longer than anticipated or be more of a steady stream versus […]

Portland Business Alliance, Portland’s ongoing struggles with community safety are well documented. Personal and property crimes have steadily increased, gun violence is spiking, and the homicide rate is near a 30-year high. The regional 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed, with even emergency calls often being put on hold. And the Portland […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, Catching a plane during the holidays may be tougher than anticipated as Portland International Airport and its counterparts throughout the nation curb the number of flights offered, the Portland Business Journal reported. In early August, PDX scheduled16,849 flights, but that number had dropped by 12 […]

OSHA Releases Vaccine Mandate Emergency Temporary Standard with Few Surprises November 5, 2021 By Christine M. Zinter On November 4, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) pulled back the curtain on its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) about two months after President Biden announced that a […]

By National Federation of Independent Business Small business owners continued to struggle to find workers to fill open positions in October with 49% (seasonally adjusted) of all owners reporting job openings they could not fill in the current period, according to NFIB’s monthly jobs report. A net 44% (seasonally adjusted) […]

By Christine M. Zinter Bullard Law Oregon law firm Washington’s new “LTC payroll tax law,” more appropriately referred to as the Long Term Care (LTC) Services and Supports Act, takes effect January 1, 2022. This new payroll tax of 0.58 percent on the W-2 payroll of Washington employees has generated […]