Workers’ compensation rates to decline again in 2008
The 2.3 percent overall reduction extends Oregon's streak of consecutive years without an increase to 18, a national record.
The Department of Consumer and Business Services and Governor Ted Kulongoski have announced that the workers' compensation pure premium rate for 2008 will drop by 2.3 percent for most employers.
Next year will be the second year in a row of a reduction in the pure premium rate, and the eighteenth consecutive year without an increase, which is a national record.
According to DCBS, one of the major reasons the rates in Oregon have gone down is employers and employees working together to make workplaces safer.
The decline highlights the importance of workplace safety and low rates to the state's economic competitiveness. For example:
- In 2008, Oregon's employers will pay about 32 percent less per $100 of payroll for workers' compensation insurance than employers in California, and about 14 percent less than those in Washington State.
- Premium rate decreases have saved Oregon employers billions of dollars — if rates had stayed flat since 1990, businesses would have paid an additional $14.5 billion in premium.
Read the DCBS news release.
View the pure premium rate chart.