By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog A year ago our office asked “Is 2015 Peak Renter?” We laid out a straightforward case examining the three main underlying drivers for the shift into rentership over the past decade: household finances, demographics, and preferences and tastes. We know the […]

By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon, It’s not your imagination, Portland is increasingly becoming a city of renters. The U.S. Homeownership rate in the second quarter of 2016 fell to its lowest level since 1965 – 62.9%. Economists and pundits are split on the reasons why. Some argue that it is […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, leading a broad coalition including the Texas Association of Business, National Automobile Dealers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Wholesaler Distributors, National Federation of Independent Business, National Retail Federation, and more than 50 other national and Texas business […]

Barran Liebman Oregon Law Firm OSHA’s New Rule Affects Post-Accident Drug Testing Policies By Nicole Elgin and Sean Ray The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued its final rule to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” and to deter retaliation against workers who report injuries. Although the new […]

Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate Revenue Forecast Reflects Growing Economy with Clouds on Horizon National and state economic reports produced a mixed-bag of news in the past two weeks. On the positive side, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that household incomes increased 5.2% in 2015, the largest gain […]

A tale of two cities: Seaside & Beaverton By Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, Tourism continues to flourish along Oregon’s coastline and with that success comes efforts by some communities to double down on tourism related investments that can further drive their local economies. The City of Seaside is a […]

 by Jason Norris, CFA Executive Vice President of Research Ferguson Wellman, A leading Oregon financial firm Stocks finished the week (9/18 to 9/23) up over one percent as the Fed held steady on rates but provided positive commentary on the U.S. economy. With the lack of Fed action, the 10-year […]

By National Retail Federation The National Retail Federation asked Congress to reject legislation that would both undermine competition and repeal the Federal Reserve’s cap on debit card swipe fees. The proposed bill would unleash new, higher, hidden swipe fees that could more than double without competitive routing options and the […]

By Fred Thompson, Oregon Economics Blog So far, my criticisms have been directed to the pro-97 camp – to claims like Gov. Brown’s that “there is a basic unfairness in our tax system that makes working families pay an increasing share for state and local services.” Not so. Oregon has […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog The big economic news last week wasn’t our office’s forecast, but the big jump in median household incomes nationwide. Two separate reports showed two different numbers: the Current Population Survey gains were 5.2% and the American Community Survey gains were 3.8%. […]