Archive for July 2020
Department Cautions Against Further Groundwater Development in the Harney Basin as Data Indicate Groundwater is Being Depleted
The Oregon Water Resources Department is advising permit holders in the Harney Basin against increasing their groundwater use, even if they have a water right permit that allows for additional pumping to increase the amount of land being irrigated. Preliminary results from the Harney Basin Groundwater Study show that groundwater is being used faster than…
Read MoreA Few Words from Jim
It is officially summer (Although on the day I’m writing this it’s only 65 degrees and I’m wearing a hoodie – Welcome to Oregon) and it has been 1 year since I became a partner with Greg on the Southern Oregon Business Journal. A lot has happened in that year. We completely rebooted the journals…
Read MoreEducation Audit – ODE Can Better Support Students Experiencing Disabilities
Labor Underutilization and the Effects of COVID-19
by Anna Johnson, Senior Economic Analyst, for Employment in Oregon Public health measures related to COVID-19 began in Oregon in mid-March. Social distancing practices and workplace and gathering changes have severely impacted business practices all around the state. Employment data for the month of April gave a startling look the impact the pandemic has had on Oregon’s economy. In…
Read MoreKeep Your Eye On The Ball
By Tim Duy, Senior Director, Oregon Economic Forum, Professor of Practice A better than expected labor report supported another leg up for Wall Street as it was the latest piece of evidence that the worst of the downturn is behind us. While that is most likely true, note that there are crosscurrents in the economy that…
Read MoreExpanding benefits of energy efficiency: water reliability
Energy Trust’s work to save energy and generate renewable energy is also helping improve the reliability of rural waterways. In the West, agriculture can account for more than 90% of consumptive water use, which is water that is permanently withdrawn from its source, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Non-consumptive use is water that…
Read MoreCovid-19 and Cities: A very uneven pandemic
By Joe Cortright The Covid-19 pandemic has played out very differently in different metro areas; some have been devastated, others only lightly touched and these patterns have shifted over time. Among US metro areas with a million or more population there is a more than 20-fold difference in cases per capita between the hardest hit…
Read MoreOregon’s Marijuana Industry and Employment Trends
by Guy Tauer, State of Oregon Employment Department Recreational marijuana sales hit a new record high of $89 million in April 2020 amid the single full month of stay-at-home orders related to COVID-19, a 45 percent increase over April 2019. In March, the second-highest month ever recorded, cannabis sales hit $84.5 million. The previous record…
Read MoreShift in Working-Age Population Relative to Older and Younger Americans
The surge in the number of Americans aged 65 and older this decade has outpaced the growth in the working-age population. By LUKE ROGERS AND KRISTIE WILDERCensus Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch In counties across the United States, the dependency ratio has increased, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released today. Over the last decade, the…
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