June 2017 Regional Economic Indicators

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

The ongoing economic expansion continues to be felt in metro areas across the state. Highlights of this month’s report include:

• For all regions covered by this report moving average measures (which smooth monthly volatility) remain above zero, indicating above trend activity. Indeed, all regions remain at fairly high paces of activity consistent with past expansions; evidence of some slowing last year has been largely reversed.
• New home building as measured by residential housing permits remains a relative weak spot in the economy, particularly outside the Portland metro area and central Oregon. Rising home prices indicates that supply has yet to catch up to demand.
• Very low unemployment rates are supporting a large positive contribution across all areas, particularly the Rogue Valley and Salem regions.
• Employment components are also generally positive across the state, and low levels of initial unemployment claims indicate solid job growth will continue.