April 2017 Regional Economic Indicators

The April 2017 Oregon Regional Economic Indicators  was released today.  Full report is available here.  We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.

Local areas in Oregon continue to enjoy the benefits of sustained economic expansion. Highlights of this month’s report include:

• For all regions, moving average measures (which smooth monthly volatility) remain above zero, indicating above trend activity. Recall that these figures measure relative average growth; each region has its own underlying growth rate.
• Activity in the Portland metro region remains solid, although it has moderated somewhat since the latter part of 2015.
• New housing construction in the Eugene-Springfield region continues to contribute negatively to the measure despite a strong pace of home sales. Employment components were generally neutral in April but the broad labor indications point to a solid jobs market.
• Central Oregon saw only a neutral contribution from housing permits. Low unemployment, low initial claims, and municipal waste all made significant positive contributions.
• Both the Rogue Valley and Salem measures received large boosts from very low unemployment rates and rapid labor force growth. New home permits in Salem made a positive contribution due to a jump in multifamily housing permits; these are often reversed in the subsequent months as apartment permitting tends to be lumpy.