By Dr. Eric Fruits, Oregon Economist On Demand Newsletter Slow growth this year, chance of recession next year • Latest data show sluggish growth through 2016, with increasing chance of recession by mid-2017. This is in line with a Wall Street Journal survey of economists. • Consumer spending is pulling […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Workforce Freedom Initiative (WFI)  released a new report highlighting labor law reforms that states can enact to foster a favorable business environment. The study, State Labor Law Reform: Tools for Growth, reviews 10 specific reforms that have been adopted by various […]

University of Oregon Economic Indexes By Tim Duy Oregon Economic Forum University of  Oregon The Oregon economy sustained its momentum in April despite a drag from manufacturing indicators. Highlights of the report include: – The Oregon measure of economic activity edged down from an upwardly revised March figure, while the […]

Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate It’s probably never good news when insurance makes top headlines. That was true when Oregon health insurance providers made news with their rate increase requests this month. On May 3, Oregon’s primary health insurance providers all submitted their requests for the 2017 calendar […]

By Bullard Law, Portland law firm DEA Approves Research into Treating PTSD with Marijuana While marijuana has been legalized in a number of states, it remains an illegal drug under federal law.  Although the 2016 Budget Act defunded DOJ from interfering with state medical marijuana laws, this does not change […]

By US Chamber Foundation Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) has been aggressively continuing its Year Of The Military Spouse 2016 campaign in a number of different and exciting ways. Rather than representing a new focus for HOH, whose military spouse program has been up and running since 2012, the campaign is […]

Congressman Peter DeFazio Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Tom Marino (R-PA) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in sending a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urging clarification of privacy and security standards for connected health technologies. Advances in smartphone technology over the past decade have led […]

By Jabob Grier, Portland Writer Cocktail consultant, magician, blogger. Liquidity Preference Blog I awoke to the news I’ve been dreading for years: The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products announced that it will extend its authority over cigarettes to all tobacco products, including cigars and e-cigarettes. When I last covered this […]

By NFIB Minimum wage advocates got their raise. Now they’re looking for more. With the first wage bump set for July 1, labor advocates are now seeking changes to the new minimum wage that would make it even more expensive for Oregon business owners. The Oregon Legislature approved the new […]

Posted by Felicia Bechtoldt Oregon Employment Department, Regardless of whether you have a bachelor’s degree or just graduated from high school, the top 15 skills employers seek for high-skill, medium-skill and low-skill occupations are similar according to estimates based on O*NET data. For the purposes of this analysis, high-skill occupations […]