News Ticked off about the economy and budget cuts? Join the crowd. At noon this Saturday, April 16, private and public sector unions angry with high unemployment and government budget cuts will meet in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square for a “Jobs, Not Cuts” rally. Organized by Portland Jobs with Justice, the rally has more than 60 cosponsors from unions to community and environmental groups. ...   More

News Just in time for the holidays, Oregon Employment Department analyst Christian Kaylor has released his monthly update on the state of the Portland labor market. As usual, the news ain't pretty. Also true to form, Kaylor pulls out a new set of stats that sheds an interesting light on our city's job market. This month's one-page report (PDF) starts with a meat-and-potatoes update on unemployment ...   More

News The scary prospect for thousands of Oregon families not getting an extension of their federal unemployment benefits thanks to congressional inaction brought about a dozen unemployed Oregonians today to a rally in downtown Portland to protest. "We are on the verge of disaster," said Eleyna Fugman, who's been sporadically employed for 18 months. Fugman says she relies upon the weekly $257 she ...   More

News A couple weeks ago, we mentioned how Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and House Majority Leader-to-be Eric Cantor (R-.Va.) may have found a rare bit of common cause in their mutual annoyance with Congress wasting its time on meaningless resolutions to honor sports champions. The Washington Post reports that Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) is also tired of these meaningless resolutions. The Post quotes ...   More

News The latest numbers from the state Employment Department this morning show Oregon's unemployment rate remains stuck in the same dispiriting range where it's been for more than a year. The seasonally adjusted rate for November is 10.6 percent, above the national rate of 9.8 percent for last month. The state rate of 10.6 percent falls within the range of the past 13 months of between 10.5 percent ...   More

News Workforce analyst Christian Kaylor of the Oregon Employment Department this week rolled out his latest and always interesting update on the Portland job market. First the usual bad news: the Portland metro area still lags the rest of the country for employment. Then, like he does each month, Kaylor breaks out a set of seemingly random but interesting stats. This month it's education, ...   More

News Local photographer Q Madp has long worked to honor U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan with photos of their funerals. But he says that work is now in jeopardy because of his own financial hardships. Madp isn't seeking handouts, though. Just help in the form of somebody agreeing to sponsor his documentary work. For the past eight years, the Northeast Portland man has attended and ...   More

News   The latest numbers from the state Employment Department this morning show Oregon’s unemployment rate remains stuck in the same dispiriting range where it’s been for more than a year. The seasonally adjusted rate for November is 10.6 percent, above the national rate of 9.8 percent for last month. The state rate of 10.6 percent falls within the range of the past 13 months ...   More

News The latest grim unemployment numbers from the state show 12.1 percent of Oregonians out of work, or nearly one in eight people. That's up from 10.7 percent in February and ties the state unemployment rate from November 1982, the low point of the early 1980s recession. And the numbers crunchers say 12.1 percent is apparently the worst it's been since 1947, when the Employment Department first ...   More

News Um, don't get too happy about the breathless headline. The latest national numbers are in for state unemployment rates, and they show Oregon's 12.1 percent unemployment rate is second-worst behind Michigan's 12.6 percent. Oregon's rate also ranks first in the biggest month-to-month jump, leaping 1.4 percentage points from February to March. The gory details are right here. A happy alternative ...   More