The October 2015 State of Oregon Economic Indexes of was released today. Full report is available here. We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.
Regional economies continued to post strong results in October with all areas growing at an above average pace. Highlights of the report include:
- New housing units permitted remain weak the Eugene-Springfield, Salem, and Rogue Valley regions, but are contributing positively in the Portland metro region. Residential housing sales, however, remain strong in all regions.
- Low unemployment rates are boosting measures in all regions; the impact is particularly strong in Salem and the Rogue Valley. Low levels of initial unemployment claims are pushing the measures sharply higher and signal continued job growth.
- All but two components (housing permits and other services employment) made neutral or better contributions to the Salem measure.
- The measures indicate that economic activity in the Portland, Salem, and Eugene-Springfield areas is increasing at paces consistent with previous expansions. The Bend region is growing at a pace similar to moderately better than that experienced prior to the housing bubble of the last decade. Growth remains below that of the bubble-era, but is more likely to prove sustainable for a longer time.
- The Rogue Valley region still lags relative to the pace of activity experienced prior to the most recent recession. Still, the region has made substantial progress over the past two years and is now growth at a better than average pace.
Reminder: The regional measures are prone to potentially large swings due to the volatility of some of the underlying data, particularly measures of employment. The moving average measures smooth out much of that volatility.
