August 2019 Regional Economic Indicators

Good morning. Below is the University of Oregon Regional Economic Indexes for August 2019. The release date is October 28, 2019. We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.

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Oregon Regional Economic Indicators:

Regional economies continue to post solid data consistent with ongoing economic growth. Highlights of this month’s report include:

• For all regions covered by this report, moving average measures (which smooth monthly volatility) were above zero, indicating an above-trend pace of activity (trend activity differs across regions).
• The Rogue Valley area experienced a negative reading for the month due to weak housing permits but the underlying story still holds (steady albeit subdued growth relative to the pre-recession period).
• All other regions experienced neutral to positive contributions from housing components; the shakiness in regional (and national) housing markets experienced around the turn of the year appears to have largely dissipated.
• Low unemployment rates and low levels of initial unemployment claims both indicate healthy regional labor markets.
• Employment data, however, has been mixed. This data, however, is subject to potentially large revisions; job growth may be revised upwards in future releases. Slowing job growth, however, might also indicate the economy is increasingly running up against supply side constraints.

  Media Contacts:
  Tim Duy – 541.346.4660 (w)