Clik here to view.
In the News: La Center Casino
The Columbian is reporting that the Cowlitz Tribe now has a reservation in La Center, Wash. after a decade-long legal battle. I do not know enough about the legal process, taking land in trust,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Start-Ups and New Business Formation
While the plethora of new high-technology firms draws the media headlines, you may or may not know that entrepreneurship overall and start-ups in both Oregon and nationwide have been declining for a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Update on Job Polarization
This is an update on job polarization in the U.S. and across states, based on the new occupational data BLS just released on Wednesday. It is important to point out that the process of job polarization...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oregon Exports, Trade and Growth
Quite a few requests coming in these days to talk about trade, its economic impact and the outlook for both the nation (new trade agreements) and local (Port of Portland marine operations) economies....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Economic Drags and the Outlook
So far in early 2015, the U.S. economic data flow has been relatively lackluster, including the disappointing March jobs report. As such, now is a good time to take a step back and mark one’s economic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Job Growth Quality, Oregon Edition
Just a quick update on the quality of Oregon’s job growth in recent years. This continues our office’s work on job polarization — the fact that much of the job growth is concentrated in both the high-...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Timber Belt
This work originally came out of the Destination Oregon talk Mark gave at the Oregon Economic Forum back in the fall. We use this material regularly in our public talks and I was recently involved in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oregon Start-Up Breweries, Sneak Peek
While we’re busy working on next week’s economic and revenue forecast, I have two sneak peeks this week that preview some of our upcoming research. First up is our forthcoming report on Oregon start-up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
State Labor Markets, Sneak Peek
As promised, here is our second sneak peek at upcoming research, following the first on our Oregon Start-Up Breweries report the other day. Even though Oregon, and the nation, have fully regained the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Graph of the Week: Oregon Income and Wages
The fact that Oregon has below average income, by any conventional measure, has been well documented. See the Employment Department’s report or the library of work from ECONorthwest on the subject....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tech Talent Concentrations
Recently the Austin Technology Council released a new report on tech talent (PDF.) It focuses on the sector’s expected strong growth, a potentially emerging skills gap* between what employers say they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oregon GDP, 2014
Last week the Bureau of Economic Analysis released state level GDP estimates for 2014, along with major historical revisions going back to the 1990s. As Oregon typically does, it ranked well again in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oregon Personal Income, 2015q1
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released the latest state income estimates this week, including revisions to 2014 data. Similar to our state’s overall economy and labor market, the data show...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Careful with the Data, Cost of Living Edition
The two most commonly used cost of living measures these days are the BEA’s regional price indexes and the C2ER’s cost of living index. The BEA figures are relatively new and have only been around a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
State Labor Market Slack and Wages
Traditional analysis and models indicate the economy is essentially at full employment, given the unemployment rate — currently at 5.3% — is in the range of previous estimates of the so-called natural...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Employment-Population Ratios, an Update
The employment to population ratio (EPOP) is the share of the population that has a job. To me it has one big benefit: it cuts through the whole conversation about whether the unemployment rate is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rural Oregon
In recent years our office has conducted various analyses and reports with an eye toward the differences between the state’s urban centers and rural Oregon more broadly. Mark in particular has given a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Migration (In Defense of Californians)
Migration is vital to Oregon’s economic health. It is one of the two primary reasons Oregon outperforms the typical state during an economic expansion. The other being our industrial structure. In both...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Population and Housing, Some History
I was on OPB “Think Out Loud” on Tuesday, talking about housing, migration and the Timber Belt. One aspect we discussed was the fact Oregon had two really big wave of migrants, in the 1970s and 1990s....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Metro Size and Employment, 2015
Our office’s work has focused quite a bit on the regional differences in economic recovery and expansion here in Oregon. Along these lines and by request from City Observatory‘s Joe Cortright, who also...
View Article