Must Reads

Oregon unemployment remained stuck at 9.6% in September as state and local governments cut jobs.

The President’s Jobs Bill doesn’t have a chance in Congress — and the Occupiers on Wall Street and elsewhere can’t become a national movement for a more equitable society – unless more Americans know the truth about the economy, says Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.

Vested outsourcing is a topic you likely have not heard much about yet. It is an innovative approach to improving the outcome and effectiveness between companies and their suppliers. It is particularly important to companies that make things themselves or currently outsource production off-shore. Contributing writer Jerry Saveriano discusses vested outsourcing with Scott Schroeder, president and CEO of Mega Tech of Oregon, in a two-part interview series.

It is a strange thing to mourn the death of the chairman of one the most profitable companies in the world. But we do. Alexis Madrigal, a senior editor at The Atlantic, explains why.

More than 500 people celebrated the 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon last night at the Portland Downtown Hilton. The 100 Best were named by Oregon Business magazine in its third annual survey of nonprofit workplace practices.

The cost for businesses to buy health coverage for workers rose the most this year since 2005 and may reach $32,175 for a family in 2021. The average cost of a family policy is currently at $15,073.

Meg Whitman is allegedly a top pick to be Hewlett-Packard’s next CEO, but the to-do list is massive and it’s unclear whether swapping leaders will make that much of a difference, says columnist Larry Dignan of CNET News.

Markedly fewer home foreclosures are being filed in 2011, according to the latest figures released by Eugene-based Gorilla Capital, the state’s largest purchaser of homes sold at foreclosure auction.

Job cuts in Oregon government, primarily at school districts, have helped keep the state’s unemployment rate high. Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in August, up slightly from 9.5 percent in July.

Customer’s expectations are at an all-time high and for a lot of people and a lot of companies, it is frightening.  For years businesses have been able to get by treating people mediocre and still making the deal.  They were able to hold a high gross profit all while having a low customer satisfaction number.  Well not anymore.