By Heritage Foundation Economic freedom declined worldwide in 2011 as many countries attempted — without success — to spend their way out of recession, according to the 18th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released today by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. The average economic freedom score for […]

By Tim Duy, Oregon Economic Forum The Oregon economy lost momentum in November. The three-month moving average of the Oregon Measure of Economic Activity was -0.93, largely unchanged from October. The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators™ slipped 0.3 percent to 88.8 (1997=100) in November. Further comments: • The […]

Pop-up shops’ sales jump 53 percent, retailers report growth in sales By Portland Business Alliance This year’s holiday season was a jolly one for downtown retailers. Many retailers are reporting at least a 10 percent increase in sales over last year, and the über-popular pop-up shops rung up more than […]

by Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog The report out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is excellent. 200,000 net new jobs is not just a good number but a great number. As a rule of thumb, you need at least 100,000 new jobs a month to keep up with population […]

By U.S. Chamber of Commerce There’s much to do. For starters, Congress should take another crack at bipartisan negotiations to reduce the deficit following last year’s failure by the deficit reduction super-committee. The $1.5 trillion in automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin on January 1, 2013, does not address the […]

Charles Langley, Utility Consumer’s Action Network is featured in this video analyzing the record breaking 2011 gas prices as a likely precursor to 2012 record price increases. See his interview at the beginning and the end. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Chart by Georgetown Center on Education & the Workforce Source: Arts, architecture & social science degrees take the biggest hit.

by Dan Mueller World of Employment Stoel Rives LLP, NW Law Firm The NLRB gave organized labor a meaningful gift just before the holidays by issuing a final rule adopting new election case procedures that will likely result in more and faster union elections, and probably also result in more […]

By Oregon Tax News Hundreds of health care related jobs in the Portland Metro area are being cut and more losses could be on the way if state reforms fail to produce savings promised by lawmakers. In mid-December, KPTV reported that Legacy Health Systems plans to cut as many as […]

Oregon’s Unemployment Rate Lowest in Three Years by Nick Beleiciks Oregon Employment Department Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in November, a drop of 0.4 percentage point from 9.5 percent in October. The latest figures indicate that Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has been on a generally declining […]