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Office Support Decline Rivals Manufacturing
When it comes to middle-wage job losses, much of the focus is on the blue collar occupations that are generally held by men without college degrees — construction, installation/maintenance/repair,...
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U.S. Regional Job Growth Update, July 2016
Job growth nationwide so far in 2016 is a bit lower than in 2015 but essentially remains on par with recent years overall. However, our office, in addition to the Liscio Report, is hearing increasing...
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Oregon Income Update, 2016
As we work on the next economic and revenue forecast (release date September 14th), I just wanted to share a quick update on Oregon personal income. Just as the economy and labor market are doing well,...
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Graph of the Week: Housing Bust Metros Update
One of the defining features of the Great Recession is the housing bubble that preceded it and set the stage for the collapse. The regions of the county that experienced the biggest bubble, also...
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Oregon Median Household Income Rises (Finally)
The big economic news last week wasn’t our office’s forecast, but the big jump in median household incomes nationwide. Two separate reports showed two different numbers: the Current Population Survey...
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Economic Anxiety in Oregon, A Summary
Economic anxiety, particularly among the white working-class, has been front and center this election cycle. At the least it is one of the two main topics, and for a good (valid) reason. While a lot of...
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Reversing the Oregon Trail: A Beer Expedition
The beer industry is transforming before our eyes. Start-ups are booming and driving growth, particularly here in Oregon. However, craft beer overall is slowing and macros are declining outright. What...
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Manufacturing Across Metros (Graph of the Week)
Economists spend a lot of time examining the manufacturing sector for a number of reasons. At least historically it employed a large share of the workforce. The industry is very cyclical and tends to...
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Oregon, Diversity and the Middle East
People have been moving to Oregon in droves ever since Lewis and Clark*. This fact is a foundational statement in our office’s presentations and one of the key reasons Oregon’s economy outperforms the...
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Supply Chains and Trade, States Edition
International trade and the impact of globalization continues to be a hotly debated topic. See Brad DeLong’s thoughtful piece at Vox and Jared Bernstein’s rejoinder, for recent examples. They both...
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Rural Housing Affordability
As a general rule of thumb rural areas have roughly 20% better housing affordability than urban areas across the U.S. Yes, incomes tend to be lower, however housing costs even more so. That said, a...
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Metro Size and Employment, 2016
Back by popular demand, here is an update on job growth across the country based on metro size. BLS just released the 2016q3 QCEW data on Tuesday for the entire country. This is the detailed data of...
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Job Polarization, 2016 Update
Job polarization, where the majority of the job gains are concentrated in both the low- and high-wage categories, is best seen in the occupational data. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases...
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Job Polarization in Oregon, 2016 Update
Last week we took a look at the newly released occupational data and job polarization across the U.S. Today is a relatively quick graphical update for Oregon and some of our regions across the state....
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States at Full Employment, A Prime-Age EPOP Story
The key economic question economists are trying to answer today is whether or not the U.S. economy is at full employment. Given it is more a concept then a hard calculation, you look for signs in the...
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About that #1 Revenue Growth…
You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it. Oregon leads the nation in revenue growth. It sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Oregon’s economy is more volatile overall and generally outperforms the...
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Oregon Recreational Marijuana Forecast
SB 845, among other things, would give our office the recreational marijuana forecast responsibility. While not current law yet, we went ahead and produced such a forecast for the first time in our...
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Oregon Household Debt: Mostly Tame
In early 2017, total household debt in the U.S. reached an all-time high according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Household Debt and Credit Report. There has been some handwringing over this...
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Tech Hubs and Venture Capital, Oregon Edition
Over at Indeed, Jed Kolko has a new piece looking at high-tech job postings across the nation. Among the trends he highlights, Jed notes that the eight biggest tech hubs — Austin, Baltimore, Boston,...
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Poverty and Progress, Oregon Update Edition
This morning the Census Bureau released the 2016 American Community Survey data. There is a ton to unpack here and even more once the microdata is released later this year. In the coming months our...
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