July 2020 Regional Economic Indexes

Good morning.  Below is the University of Oregon Regional Economic Indexes for July 2020. The release date is September 29, 2020. We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.

Link to full report (with charts!) here.

Oregon Regional Economic Indicators:

Regional indexes were again all positive in July as the economy continued to rebound from the lockdowns earlier this year. Highlights of this month’s report include:

• Moving average measures, which smooths monthly volatility, are pulling into positive territory as well (the Salem and Rogue Valley moving average measures are on a six-month basis and still contain very weak months from earlier this year).
• Employment components generally contributed positively as firms rehired laid-off workers. High unemployment rates, however, still made substantial negative contributions across all regions.
• Importantly, the housing market remains a source of strength in the economy with residential sales making solid positive contributions to the measures and housing permits making generally neutral contributions. The strength in housing contrasts sharply with the weakness suffered by this sector in the last recession.
• Housing is generally a good leading indicator and suggests that there remains solid underlying demand that will help support the economy as firms adjust to the post-pandemic environment.

Media Contacts:

Tim Duy – 541.346.4660 (w)