November 2016 Oregon Regional Economic Indicators

The November 2016 Oregon Regional Economic Indicators  was released today.  Full report is available here.  We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.

Oregon’s local economies held strong as the end of 2016 approached. Highlights of this month’s report include:

• For all regions, moving average measures for November (which smooth monthly volatility) remain above zero, indicating above average activity. Recall that these figures measure relative average growth; each region has its own underlying growth rate.
• The Portland metro region measure continues to benefit from solid and generally broad-based employment growth as well as strong housing activity. Home sales remain at high levels and housing units permitted has picked up to an above-average level (although still low compared to past expansions).
• Similar circumstances support the Eugene-Springfield measure, although new construction activity remains muted. The Bend region continues to power forward, with rebounding construction activity coming online to meet demand.
• Weak labor force numbers restrained the Rogue Valley measure, but this most likely reflects volatility in the data. Note that the labor force made a negative contribution to all regional measures this month.
• The Salem regional extended its generally positive run; the region has held at a remarkably steady underlying growth rate since the beginning of 2016.