Build an Oregon That Works for Working Families
Chuck Sheketoff
It used to be that economic growth and increased productivity translated into gains for ordinary working families, but no longer. During the economic expansion that preceded the current recession, most Oregon workers lost ground.
That predicament and how to confront it are the focus of Oregon Center for Public Policy’s latest edition in our biennial series The State of Working Oregon.
The just-released report, Rolling Up Our Sleeves: Building an Oregon That Works for Working Families, lays out a broad policy framework and specific proposals intended to increase economic opportunity.
By some measures, Oregon’s economy performed very well during the seven-year economic cycle that ended in early 2008. Oregon’s economy grew at an annual rate of 4 percent during the cycle, outpacing the nation’s 2.5 percent growth rate. Oregon led all states in terms of worker productivity growth.
But underneath the rosy top-line numbers lurked a darker picture. For instance, the amount of bad debt — unpaid bills — written off by Oregon hospitals tripled from 2000 through 2008. And from 2001 through 2007, roughly the last business cycle, Oregon recorded nearly twice as many personal bankruptcy filings as bachelor’s degrees awarded at its public universities.
By the end of the economic cycle, the lowest-income 60 percent of Oregon workers had seen their paychecks shrink in inflation-adjusted terms and fewer workers overall could count on health care coverage.
Meanwhile, estimated corporate profits more than doubled and the incomes of well-off Oregonians soared between 2000 and 2007.
OCPP calculated that in 2006, Oregon’s wealthiest 1,500 households — who together would fill less than a third of the seats in Portland’s Rose Garden Arena — made as much money as 450,000 households, as many households as live in 28 of Oregon’s 36 counties, combined.
The fact that so few captured the gains shows that the foundations of economic opportunity have broken down.
The current, severe recession has intensified the pressure that was already squeezing working families.
The good news is that it is possible to change things for the better, to build an Oregon that once again works for working families.
Rolling Up Our Sleeves sets out specific recommendations within three broad categories: strengthening the public sector, securing the incomes of working families and reforming the tax system.
Read the Introduction to Rolling Up Our Sleeves. Read the Executive Summary here (PDF). To purchase a printed copy of Rolling Up Our Sleeves: Building an Oregon That Works for Working Families, click here. To download a copy click here (PDF, 2.49 MB),
 |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
6:52 p.m.
Dec 17, '08
Yea, my husband's small raises that he's gotten since 2006 sure haven't kept up with expenses. It's hardly covered the increases in our health insurance (went up another $40 on the plan that starts Jan 1).
We're now quickly approaching $5500 per year for our health insurance premiums, not including $30 co-pays just to go to the doctor and a 80% coverage after all deductibles are met. It's really beginning to feel like health insurance isn't worth it, that we'd be better off with catastrophic coverage and that's it.
Add in the increases in rent over the past two years, increases in the cost of food, etc., and we're falling further and further behind. Just one more reason we had to give up having a car.
Dec 18, '08
I'm meeting more and more people that say, "if I get sick, I die." The number of people I know in their 50s that have died in the last 5 years is staggering; about one in five that I know of that age. Most let their health deteriorate, then just didn't care. When you add to that the feeling that you have to commit fraud to have a good career and that you'll surely die biking to work, or in a police action, I think a lot of the malaise is as much between our ears as between each other. And we know we'll never hear another American President use that word, like JC. Ah...what would Jimmy Carter do, indeed! Besides turn down the thermostat and work for justice.
That said, I found "Rolling Up Our Sleeves" a good read.
8:42 p.m.
Dec 19, '08
OCPP does amazing work. Thanks for the report.
Dec 20, '08
This is nothing new.
This used to be what the Oregon Democratic Party stood for.
Today, I can't see the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans, at least in the Portland metro area. Well, there is a difference, it's just one group of the "rich" go blue and the other group of the "rich" go red, but it's still the same - the money goes to the powerful, the elite, and not to the 70% of Oregonians who are just making a living and trying to pay the bills.
Thanks to the Portland Democrats, we have unaffordable housing in Portland, arcane regulations that make housing even MORE unaffordable, the cost of electricity has gone up, we have a discriminatory transit system (great if you live near MAX, pathetic if you have a bus line), food costs that are going up, the loss of good quality, good wage blue collar jobs (being replaced with imported workers to fill white or "green" collar jobs)...
I hope every Oregon Democrat reads this. And then makes it a priority to help Oregonians. We don't need more "new jobs" filled by imported Californians. We don't need more regulations that do nothing but make the greenies feel good while pushing up costs for everyone else. We need affordable housing - not "section 8" or "subsidized" housing, but good quality, decent homes that middle-class Portlanders can afford. We need to lower the cost of living. We need to make sure that ANYONE that needs medical care can get it - affordably. We need to eliminate the term "medical bankruptcy". We need to stop special interests - especially those that are in control of Portland. We need to stop bailouts. We need to return to fiscal responsibility, even if that means putting aside pet projects (i.e. the tram, streetcar, convention center, hotel, baseball park). We need to make sure that when government opens its mouth, that ALL residents benefit, not just a select few (particularly an issue with TriMet, but also Metro and the City of Portland).
Dec 21, '08
We don't need more "new jobs" filled by imported Californians
And why is CA advertising on British TV to come and apply for employment in California? I think it's crazy that unemployment benefits are taxed at the same rate as earnings, but isn't this a bit extreme? You have to pay taxes on your benefits, then the state uses it to buy advertising on Sky Sports with an end toward creating more competition for you in your job search? I'm sure that's exactly what the average Californian thinks the tourism budget is going for.
I think Erik's feeling are widespread, particularly in the group I mentioned earlier. I'm appreciative that he speaks up, because for everyone that does, there's at least 50 that don't.
<hr/>