Twenty-Eight Counties Had Historic Low Unemployment Rates in May Oregon Workforce and Economic Information Twenty-eight counties were at or tied with their historic low unemployment rates. Benton County had Oregon’s lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May at 2.8 percent. Grant County (6.7%) registered the highest rate for the month. […]

Teachers Union to Push Taxes on 2018 Ballot The proposed ballot measures would make it easier for the Legislature to increase business taxes, and impose a .95 percent gross receipts tax on certain corporations. via Oregon National Federation of Independent Businesses The Oregon Education Association (OEA) is pushing for two […]

Willamette Valley Household Incomes (Graph of the Week) Oregon Office of Economic Analysis by Josh Lehner This edition of the Graph of the Week highlights improving household incomes here in the Willamette Valley. As we have discussed numerous times lately, the tight labor market has begun driving many positive economic […]

Retail Sales Remain Flat in May by Treacy Reynolds National Retail Federation   Retail sales in May were essentially unchanged on a seasonally adjusted basis after an upwardly revised gain of 0.6 percent, according to calculations released today by the National Retail Federation. In May, sales were 5.3 percent above […]

  OregonSaves Launches In July, Bringing New Requirements to Employers Cascade Employers Blog by Curtis Farmer What and When Beginning in July, employers in Oregon will have a new option for providing a retirement solution to their employees, but it brings with it a mandate for all employers to provide […]

Oregon Recreational Marijuana Forcast By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis   SB 845, among other things, would give our office the recreational marijuana forecast responsibility. While not current law yet, we went ahead and produced such a forecast for the first time in our most recent quarterly forecast. […]

Oregon Small Business Association Press Release The Oregon Small Business Association opposes HB 2830 and the business sales tax otherwise known as the gross receipts sales tax. Taxing business sales instead of taxing profits means you are taxing businesses when they are not making a profit. It also means you […]

Bonamici Denounces House Bill to Roll Back Consumer Protections Financial CHOICE Act Severely Limits Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) voted against legislation that guts the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and rolls back protections of 2010’s Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The bill would limit the ability of […]

Retailers Welcome Labor Department’s Withdrawl of Burdemsom Joint Employer Guidance Robin Roberts, National Retail Federation The National Retail Federation welcomed the announcement from the Labor Department that it would withdraw burdensome guidance issued under the Obama Administration significantly broadening the definition of a joint employer and creating seemingly limitless liability […]

  Termination Because Of Medical Marijuana Cardholder Status Is Unlawful By Michael G. McClory, Bullard Law In an August 14, 2015 post, The Bullard Edge responded to a (fictional) mailbag letter from Isabel, an HR manager who planned to fire an employee because of his acquisition of a medical marijuana […]