SB 463 Ends Rule Barring Many Part-time Workers From Collecting Unemployment Benefits

SB 463 would acknowledge the important role that part-time workers play in today's workforce by eliminating the outmoded rule that unemployed workers with a history of part-time work can collect benefits only if they search for full-time employment

SB 461 Helps Low-income Workers Gain Job Skills, Strengthens Oregon's Workforce

SB 461 would help low-wage workers upgrade their skills so they can get a higher-paying or more stable job. It lifts restrictions on very low-wage workers who are trying to enter or complete a job training program while they collect unemployment benefits

SB 462 Helps Low-Income Workers Qualify for Unemployment Benefits, Oregon Qualify for Federal Funds

Some workers losing their jobs during this recession are not receiving unemployment benefits, even though their employers paid unemployment taxes for them. This is because the state uses outmoded eligibility rules that ignore recent months of work. SB 462 would fix this problem

No Gain, Just Pain: Most Oregonians would not benefit from Measure 59, but they would lose public services

Imagine being offered the following deal: in exchange for more overcrowded classrooms, more Oregonians without health coverage and higher college tuition, you get . . . nothing. That is not a hypothetical scenario for most Oregonians. It is the raw deal contained in Measure 59 on the November 2008 ballot. Measure 59, which would allow an unlimited deduction of federal income taxes on state tax returns, offers no tax break to more than three out of four Oregon taxpayers. And yet the measure's hefty price tag -- more than $1 billion, or more than about 9 percent of General Fund revenues, each budget cycle -- would force deep cuts in Oregon's public structures. Voters rejected a similar scheme in 2000. Like its earlier version, this year's reincarnation of the unlimited federal tax deduction portends no gain, just pain for most Oregonians. Read OCPP's latest report No Gain, Just Pain: Most Oregonians would not benefit from Measure 59, but they would lose public services. Read OCPP's news release Costly Ballot Measure 59 Tilts Benefits to Wealthy, Leaving "No Gain, Just Pain" for Most Oregonians

Rolling Up Our Sleeves: Building an Oregon that Works for Working Families

Working families in Oregon, as in the rest of the nation, faced a tough economic environment even before the onset of the current recession. Prior to the downturn, Oregon experienced a seven-year stretch in which its economy and productivity grew faster than that of the nation as a whole. And yet Oregon working families emerged from that seemingly favorable period with stagnant or shrunken wages and less health care coverage. The percentage of families stuck in poverty despite their work effort remained unchanged. How did it come to pass that the economy grew but most working families gained nothing or fell behind? The answer is simply that the rules of the economy have not been guided by a goal of shared prosperity and opportunity for all. The economic benefits mostly flowed upward, swelling the incomes of those at the very top. Toward the end of the economic expansion, income inequality had reached record levels. Now, with a recession battering the state and the nation, the economic condition of working families has become more precarious. History shows, however, that in tough economic times we can summon the will to accomplish great things. Seven decades ago, a generation of Americans rose up from the depths of the Great Depression and together built a strong nation and economy. This achievement rested on a foundation of broadly shared prosperity and opportunity for all. The benefits of economic growth flowed to typical working families. It is time for Oregonians to learn from history and build a new foundation. Action now can help alleviate some of the pain of the current downturn. But more importantly, our work today will help usher in a new era of broadly shared prosperity and opportunity. In this report, we outline strategies for building an Oregon that works for working families. The specific recommendations fall under three broad categories: policies that strengthen the public sector's role in promoting shared prosperity, policies that secure the incomes of working families and reforms to the tax system that make it fairer for working families and generate revenue for public systems that create opportunity. This report is not a comprehensive plan for achieving an economy of shared prosperity, but it presents a broad policy framework and a range of specific proposals that point the way forward. So let's roll up our sleeves and begin building an Oregon that works for working families

Gloomy Days, but a Ray of Hope, for Working Oregonians

Labor Day is an appropriate moment to reflect on the state of Oregon workers. This year's holiday takes place as the nation continues to struggle with the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Not surprisingly, for most Oregon workers the state of affairs is a tough one. In particular:The wages of a typical Oregon worker last year were lower than in 1979 when adjusted for inflation. The average hourly wage for median wage workers was $15.85 in 2009, down from$16.09 in 2001 and lower than the 1979 level of $16.12.Income inequality -- the gap separating the wealthy from the rest -- remains wide, despite drops in income across the wage scale. The average annual income of the wealthiest 1 percent of Oregon households dropped in 2008, falling 29 percent from the 2007 peak of a little over$1 million. Average income for the typical (median) Oregon household fell 3 percent, from $32,336 in 2007 to$31,243 in 2008.Jobs are expected to remain scarce over the next few years, making it hard for workers to demand better wages. In 2010, Oregon is projected to have 65 jobs available for every 100 working-age Oregonians. That is well below the level of jobs available in 2000, at the peak of the economic cycle of the 1990s. Oregon will not regain the level of jobs per worker seen in 2003 -- the worst year of the 2001-03 recession -- until 2015.Corporations have also felt the effects of the downturn, although they were cushioned by rapid jumps in profits and income prior to the recession. OCPP estimates that corporate profits in Oregon were about $15 billion in 2009, essentially the same level as in 2008. But amid this gloomy scenario, there is one ray of hope for Oregon workers: unionization appears to be holding up better in Oregon than in the nation as a whole. Last year, 17 percent of Oregon's workforce belonged to a union, the third year in a row that the state has seen an uptick in unionization rates. Recent data demonstrate that unions have played a key role in raising wages and benefits, particularly for low-income workers. And research shows that all workers, not just union members, benefit from the union gains. As Oregon workers confront the toughest economic challenges in over 70 years, they should welcome a stronger union voice

Periodic Atlas of the Metroscape: The Geography of Eating Well - Food Access in the Metroscape

This issue of the Atlas looks at food stores in the urban metroscape, their locations, their variety, and their neighborhood settings, raising questions about food access in this region

Expanding the EIC in 2009: Increasing the state Earned Income Credit would add fairness and help low-wage working families and communities across Oregon

This tax season, Oregon will require a minimum wage worker who was employed full-time, year-round last year and supported one child to pay about $321 in state income taxes. That's equivalent to about a month of food for this hard-working but financially insecure family. Oregon's Earned Income Credit, enacted in 1997, has certainly helped Oregon's most vulnerable families. Because the credit is so small, though (it's one of the nation's smallest among states with such credits) Oregon income taxes are still taking a month's worth of food off the table of vulnerable families. By expanding the Earned Income Credit (EIC), Oregon can give a hand up to low-wage working families, rather than leaving them behind. Read OCPP's fact sheet, Expanding the EIC in 2009, which includes tables and maps showing EIC returns as a share of all returns by state legislative district

Who's Getting Ahead? Opportunity in a Growing Economy

Working Oregonians are making the state economy hum. We are outpacing much of the nation on a number of key economic measures. Oregon's workers are producing goods and services much more efficiently than we were a few years ago.With the economy on an upswing, Oregon's workers should be seeing increased economic opportunities, but the numbers show they're not. Who's getting ahead? Not enough of us.This report, a resource guide for policy makers, advocates, the media, and the general public, explains why