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Metro Size and Growth, An Update
Just a quick update on employment growth by metro size, similar to previous work (HERE and HERE). This takes a look at county level employment data (QCEW through the end of 2013 was released recently)...
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U.S. Growth, Update on the States
Besides just stronger national growth, another way for top line U.S. job figures to improve is for more states or regions to share in the recovery. Back in December I noted that the Northeast and...
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Map of the Week: Commuting, Worker Flows and Oregon Communities
Mark (and Kanhaiya) are working on a migration study, which Mark will present at this year’s Oregon Economic Forum in October. There will be lots of great information not only on historical trends but...
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Graph of the Week: Oregon Manufacturing
Our latest economic and revenue forecast, released last week, featured a section on the historical changes underlying Oregon’s manufacturing and resource industries. It is somewhat timely both for the...
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Changing of the Guard
Oregon remains a natural resource and manufacturing state, which along with our strong migration patterns, are really the two distinctive features that sets the state apart from most others. However...
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Industry Structure and Growth
There are a number of ways to achieve economic growth. Increases in productivity is one. Firms can invest in new capital, helping drive gains. The existing workforce can become better educated...
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Those Two Economic Narratives
Right now there are two main economic narratives out there. The first is that the economy isn’t getting better, that for most people and most households, the recovery has been minimal, at best. The...
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Oregon Personal Income, 2014q2
This morning the BEA released new personal income data at the state level, along with annual revisions. Overall, it brings more good news for the Oregon economy but also fits in on both sides of those...
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Betting the Minimum. Gaming in the U.S. and State Revenues.
Our office is releasing a new report today on gaming in the U.S. and state revenues. Below is the executive summary. Download: Report | Slides | Data Atlantic City, New Jersey has been in the...
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Destination Oregon
Today Mark is delivering a speech at the Oregon Economic Forum on one of the state’s greatest advantages: migration. In both good times and bad, people want to live here. While there are pros and cons,...
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The Educated Service Class
The Great Recession has damaged the labor market. Of that there is no question. However, has it given rise to the educated service class? Those workers with a college degree that are stuck in jobs that...
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Education, Migration and the Service Class
Beyond the commonly heard refrain that the Great Recession has ushered in a new, larger educated service class, which turns out to be largely untrue, another common worry is that of the type of migrant...
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Household Debt Deleveraging, State Edition
One very important economic measure is that of household debt (relative to income) and it’s impact on consumer spending and economic activity more broadly. As economists have discussed quite a bit in...
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Graph of the Week: Unemployment Rates Across Metros
Like any individual economic measure, the unemployment rate is flawed. It can go down for bad reasons (people give up looking for work) and up for good reasons (more people looking for a job.) That’s...
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The Manufacturing Renaissance in Perspective
Besides the references in President Obama’s State of the Union speech earlier this week, there has been much discussion (and consternation) of the so-called manufacturing renaissance in recent years....
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2015 Outlook – Energy Prices
One big development for the 2015 economic outlook is oil prices and more importantly for households, the price at the pump. Below is a quick summary of the developments and a collection of these...
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Graphs of the Week: Oregon MSA Employment
Below is one quick graph per MSA to help put the strong employment numbers from the past year in better context. Bend is Rising. Not only did Bend suffer a more severe recession than anything seen in...
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Graph of the Week: Alcohol Cluster
Still working on the start-up brewery report, which will hopefully be out in about a month. For now, here’s a quick update on the alcohol cluster. This is our office’s working definition of the...
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Tax Structure and Volatility
During each of the past two recessions, Oregon’s general fund revenues dropped twice as much as in the typical state. In fact only Alaska and its reliance on oil (see: oil prices) saw considerably...
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Populations in Need: Poverty and SNAP
Oregon’s underlying economy is more volatile than the typical state. We do worse in downturns (larger job losses, higher unemployment, higher populations in need of assistance) but we also do better in...
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