The National Retail Federation, The National Retail Federation issued its revised annual forecast for 2021, anticipating that retail sales will now grow between 10.5 percent and 13.5 percent to more than $4.44 trillion this year as the economy accelerates its pace of recovery. The announcement was made during NRF’s inaugural […]

Tim Duy University of Oregon State of Oregon Economic Indicators Below is the University of Oregon State of Oregon Economic Indicators for March 2021. The release date is June 8, 2021. Special thanks to our sponsor, KeyBank. Link to full report (with charts!) here. The Oregon Measure of Economic Activity, […]

By Anthony K. Smith NFIB, Lawmakers are characterizing the latest state revenue forecast as “stunning” and “unbelievable.” State economists are now predicting a $1.4 billion kicker refund for Oregon taxpayers and more than $1 billion in additional revenue for the Legislature to spend in each of the next several biennia, […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, On Monday June 14th, The Oregon Senate Finance and Revenue Committee debated and voted to pass SB 139 which raises tax rates on family owned small businesses.   It raises the tax rate for pass through entities like LLCs and partnerships.  This tax only hist these […]

By Josh Lehner, Office of Economic Analysis, Economic growth is surging as the pandemic wanes. Thanks to federal fiscal policy, consumers have higher incomes today than before COVID-19 hit. Now they are increasingly allowed to and feel comfortable resuming pandemic-restricted activities like going out to eat, on vacations, getting haircuts […]

By Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, Reopening Oregon – According to the latest information on the Oregon Health Authority website and today’s press conference with Governor Brown, we are at 67.2% of Oregonians having received their first vaccine. Approximately 90,000 more Oregonians need to get in line to trigger the […]

By NFIB, The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell 0.2 points in May to 99.6. May saw a slight pause in the recovery of small business optimism after steadily increasing each month in 2021. As reported in NFIB’s monthly jobs report, a record-high 48% of owners reported unfilled job openings. […]

By Oregon Business and Industry OBI joined 25 other chambers and association partners urging Gov. Brown and the Legislature to consider using American Rescue Plan funds to create an incentive program aimed at encouraging people to accept work rather than relying on continued unemployment benefits. Read the full letter here. […]

Oregon Construction Employment Near Record Highs BY Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s construction industry reached near a record high number of jobs in recent months, employing approximately 110,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The industry bounced back quickly from the COVID recession in which it spiked down to about 100,000 jobs […]

By Portland Business Alliance News Release 5/26/21- Portland Business Alliance is Greater Portland’s Chamber of Commerce and represents the largest, most diverse network of businesses in the region. Today the City of Portland Auditor’s office issued a statement and response, declining our request of reconsideration of unreported city lobbying violations. […]