By Bullard Law, Portland law firm BENEFITS UPDATE SEVERANCE PAY, EMPLOYMENT TAXES AND THE SUPREME COURT Thomas Kramer, Employers sometimes provide severance pay to departing employees, whether as part of a severance pay plan or policy, an individual separation agreement or to settle a dispute between the employer and the […]

By Economist Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational Results from the Business Roundtable’s first quarter 2014 CEO Economic Outlook Survey show a moderate uptick in CEO expectations for hiring, sales and capital expenditures and some improvement in the Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Index. The first graph in the press release shows the CEO […]

Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate 2013-2014 Biennium AOI records legislator’s votes (floor and committee) on a selection of bills on which AOI took clear positions and reports the resultant scores to its 1,400 members throughout the state. Votes are tabulated as Opposed or Supportive of AOI policy. As […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog Mark recently gave a presentation to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission in which he detailed consumption trends by age, income, occupation, city size and the like, based on the consumer expenditure survey data our office has been diving into a lot […]

Davis Dwight & Tremaine LLP Oregon business law firm New Guidance for Employers Conducting Background Checks By Angela Galloway Employers who investigate workers’ criminal or credit backgrounds may want to review federal guidelines released March 10. The joint publication of the Federal Trade Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides detailed […]

By Jeffrey Miron Director of undergraduate studies at Harvard, Director of economic policy studies at Cato The Colorado Department of Revenue earlier this month released its first data on the tax, fee and license revenue from legalized marijuana sales in the state. For January, the figure is $3.5 million when […]

By Jabob Grier, Portland Writer Liquidity Preference Blog The Oregon legislature recently failed to pass completely sensible restrictions on selling e-cigarettes to minor, an effort undermined by more extreme anti-smokers who were more intent on banning vaping in workplaces, bars, and restaurants. In today’s Oregonian, I write about lawmakers’ misguided […]

By Oregon Tax News, Portland is one of 34 cities slated by Google for Google Fiber expansion, which means its residents could soon browse the Internet at speeds 100 times faster than current broadband capacity allows. Google Fiber refers to the fiber optic broadband infrastructure Google plans to deploy strategically […]

By Economist Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational State employment numbers came out this week. This ultimately leads to press releases and prognostications that now, things are starting to look better for job seekers. The good news: At 6.9 percent, Oregon’s unemployment rate fell its lowest rate in more than five years. The […]

By Business Oregon A partnership of economic development organizations welcomes the news that Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, is opening its North American operational headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Airbnb will employ 160 people at its new offices, expected to open later this summer. The Portland Development Commission (PDC), […]