The National Association of Home Builders reported in their confidence survey that new multi-family and single home construction fell 15.5% in December from November, and residential construction permits fell over 10%.

By Bill Conerly, Businomics, Conerly Consulting Non-residential construction has been a bright spot in the economy.  It dipped last summer, but recovered in the past few months.  The bad news, though, is that architectural activity suggests another round of declines for construction.  After all, the architect works before the contractor […]

By Oregon Health Science University, In response to these challenges, OHSU is reducing costs by $30 million to $35 million for the current financial year. OHSU President Joe Robertson, M.D., M.B.A. today provided an update on OHSU’s efforts to respond to the global economic downturn. The downturn has impacted the […]

By Dr. Eric Fruits, EconInternational, Oregon HB 2388 is an economists dream. It requires a city or county to obtain and review a “comprehensive economic impact study” before approving or disapproving an application to construct a retail facility larger than 75,000 square feet. It also requires that the store pay […]

By Aaron Crowley, Oregon Small Business Association Scott Bruun is not your typical business owner or Oregon State Representative.   He is one of only a handful of citizen legislators serving in Salem who owns and operates a business enterprise.  This business experience brings a much needed perspective to the capital […]

Dunn, Carney, Allen, Higgins and Tongue Attorneys at Law, Portland eAlerts, 1/21/09 As you may recall, the Oregon Supreme Court decided earlier this year that employees could not bring wage claims against employers for a missed rest period (click here for the article). In response, the Oregon Bureau of Labor […]

J.L. Wilson Associated Oregon Industries In the week prior to the start of the 2009 Oregon Legislature, AOI convened a “summit” of Oregon’s leading business associations to talk strategically about the session’s major business issues.  Coming out of that meeting was a dedication to working together under the banner of […]

Department Of Financial Institutions Closes Bank Of Clark County In Vancouver, Wash. Umpqua Bank Will Be New Owner Bank of Clark County will reopen Tuesday — with minimal disruption of service throughout this holiday weekend — under new ownership with Umpqua Bank of Roseburg, Ore. Department Of Financial Institutions Release […]

By Bill Conerly, Businomics, Conerly Consulting The worst part of this forecast update is history.  The fourth quarter is still a forecast, because we won’t have official GDP data for another couple of weeks, but the monthly numbers we have are looking worse and worse.  As I mentioned recently, exports, […]

By Economist Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational Oregon’s personal exemption tax credit is the most widely claimed state income tax credit.  The most recent information from the state indicates that 93 percent of taxpayers claim the credit.  The average taxpayer has a $308 personal exemption tax credit.  Without the personal exemption […]