Pure Premium Rates to Drop 14%; Premium Assessment Ticking Up

Oregon employers will see an average 14% reduction in pure premium rates next year, but state regulators want to take a smidgen of the potential savings back in form of an increase in the assessment rate. The Department of Consumer and Business Services on Monday announced the fifth pure premium rate reduction in five years, marking a 33% cumulative reduction since 2013. Oregon already had the seventh-lowest workers’ compensation costs in the nation in 2016, according to the department’s annual premium survey. The department said that with the latest reduction, average employer c...