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In the News: Portland Commercial Real Estate
Commercial real estate remains a key risk to the medium-term outlook. The combination of business closures, less foot traffic, and demand for office space points toward less new construction activity...
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Decomposing Oregon’s Population Growth
This edition of the Graph of the Week decomposes Oregon’s population growth and how it compares to other states. Overall Oregon is one of the faster growing states nationwide. Over the past decade we...
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Low-Wage Employment in Oregon
We know there is a clear disparity when it comes to the labor market. Workers in high-contact, in-person industries have borne the brunt of the recession. Layoffs here are due to the combination of...
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Checking in on Portland
Large urban economies have tended to suffer the most during the pandemic. Portland has been no exception. If we look at the latest employment data here in Oregon it shows that Multnomah County has the...
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Oregon Employment, March 2021
This morning the Oregon Employment Department released the March 2021 jobs report. Overall the new data shows what we are expecting is the beginning of a robust recovery. Last month Oregon saw more...
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Fun Friday: Northwest Cigarette Sales
Last fall, Oregon voters passed Measure 108 at the ballot box, increasing tobacco taxes and establishing a new tax on inhalant delivery (vape/e-cigs). The changes went into effect at the start of this...
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This Desert Life (Drought)
It would have been nice if we could have dealt with the global pandemic, then moved on to the drought and ensuring water issues before fire season started back up. Alas we are not in that alternative...
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Federal Aid Mutes Job Loss Impact Across States
This morning the Bureau of Economic Analysis released the 2021q1 state personal income data. Click over there to dive in yourself. I am likely currently stuck in a bison-induced traffic jam somewhere...
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Oregon Incomes Remain Strong (2021q2)
This morning the BEA released 2021q2 state estimates for personal income, which included some noticeable revisions which we’ll get into. As expected, incomes are down from the first quarter when the...
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Rebounding Air Travel in Oregon
Air travel was always one of the last things expected to rebound. After all, why would one willingly enclose themselves in a tight space with hundreds of strangers for hours on end during a pandemic?...
View ArticleDisrupted Supply Chains Across States
Right now consumer spending is strong, COVID is keeping some workers home sick, and factories and warehouses are operating at or near capacity. These factors result in struggling supply chains, bare...
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Unhealthy Air Quality Days on the Rise in Oregon
Our office is working on some research related to the economic impacts of climate change and natural disasters more broadly. This is something we have done in bits and pieces over the years when it...
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What’s Wrong with Portland?
Large metro areas led the recovery coming out of the Great Recession. Portland’s growth last decade was transformational. Among the 100 largest metros in the country, Portland ranked in the Top 10 for...
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Just How Much is Working from Home on the Rise?
While there has been no pandemic-related migration boom in Oregon, one of the most commonly cited reasons for it in the first place was the rise of working from home (WFH). It is true that WFH did...
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Marijuana Outlook (March 2022)
Marijuana sales continue to be strong and are closely tracking recent forecasts. That said, the baseline outlook has called for sales to slow as the pandemic improves and Oregonians continue to return...
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Update on Young Oregonians and the Trades
The labor market is structurally tight. Mediocre demographics are the key reason why. Let’s run through a quick update on young workers in the trades. First, the good news. The total number of young...
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State and Local Pandemic Revenues
It’s no secret that the inflationary economic boom has translated into very strong public sector tax revenues. It’s the reason Oregon is currently facing a record kicker. These strong collections are...
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Update on State Economies
Happy Friday everyone. Just a quick update on the economic recoveries across the country and how Oregon stacks up. We know that Oregon suffered a pretty typical recession compared to other states,...
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Oregon’s High-Tech Sector (July 2022)
High-technology is a pillar of Oregon’s economy. Overall it accounts for about 5% of statewide jobs, but due to its higher productivity and pay, the sector is 11% of overall wages paid and 11% of...
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Oregon Progress and Poverty, 2021 Edition
This morning the Census Bureau released the 2021 American Community Survey data. This is the best data set available to researchers as it provides not just high level measures looking at income,...
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