October 2019 Oregon Regional Indicators

Good morning. Below is the University of Oregon Regional Economic Indexes for October 2019. The release date is December 20, 2019. We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project.

Link to full report (with charts!) here.

Oregon’s regional economies began the third quarter on solid footing. Highlights of this month’s report include:

• For all regions covered by this report, both raw and moving average measures (which smooth monthly volatility) were above zero, indicating an above-trend pace of activity (trend activity differs across regions).
• Interestingly, labor force growth remains a weak spot across all regions; recent trends suggest that labor markets will remain tight which in turn would be a constraint on hiring and create additional upward pressure on wages. Managing labor costs will still be a challenge for firms while households will benefit from rising incomes.
• Housing activity is generally robust with home sales making a substantial contribution to most measures.
• The exception is the Portland area where home sales made a near-neutral contribution; that market has strengthened in recent months but is still a bit softer than late-2017/early-2018. New home construction though made substantial positive contributions in Portland as well as Bend with mixed performance in other areas.
• All areas received a substantial boost from low unemployment rates, particularly the Rogue Valley and Salem regions.

Media Contacts:
Tim Duy – 541.346.4660 (w)