Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, it has taken awhile for the recovery to spread beyond Portland first, and then beyond the state’s other metro areas. However, with the latest county level employment report, 4 out of 5 counties in Oregon have experienced job growth in the past year. This share of all counties is nearly back to the levels seen in previous expansions. Of course the key question is the magnitude of the growth, not just an up or down measure. Next month the Employment Department will release an updated, benchmark series for the counties so we can examine the strength then. For now, most of Oregon is seeing growth and will continue to as the expansion continues and gathers at least a little bit of steam.