Hello dear Economic Indicator readers,
I hope you had a lovely month, and attached are the Multnomah County Economic Indicators for July for your viewing pleasure. (You can also view Economic Indicators on https://www.qualityinfo.org/portland-metro.) A little more in-depth breakdown of select topics follow.
I would like to remind you all that my role as a workforce economist is to give presentations and provide economic and labor market information and data to help with hiring, market research, grant applications and everything in between. So if you have a question about the labor market, want economic data or would like me to present on a topic, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Economy in Multnomah County and the Portland MSA
Oregon’s total nonfarm payroll employment grew 0.6%, adding 11,200 jobs over the last 12 months ending in June. Multnomah’s nonfarm payroll employment contracted -0.4%, losing an estimated -1,900 jobs over the same time period. The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metropolitan Statistical Area (Portland MSA) employment level shrank -0.8% year-over-year ending in May, which is the largest employment loss among the top 50 largest metro areas in the U.S. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Las Vegas, Oklahoma City and San Antonio were the fastest growing among the largest metros.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Oregon held at 4.1% in June, moderately higher than last year when it was 3.5% in June 2023. Oregon’s unemployment matches the U.S.’s unemployment rate of 4.1%. Notably, Oregon remains below the 10- and 20-year unemployment rate averages of 5.1% and 6.3%, respectively. Multnomah County’s and the Portland MSA’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.0% in June. Both rates are above where they were a year ago (both were 3.4% in June 2023) and both county and MSA remain below their 10-year averages, both of which are 5.0%.
Read more about the Multnomah and Portland economy on QualityInfo.org, Oregon’s website for labor market information.
Topic of the Month: Median Wage of Graduates by Degree Level
Job and wage data for college graduates has traditionally been quite difficult to obtain. These critical data questions got a bit easier to answer in 2022 when Oregon joined a cohort of states in the Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) experimental data product from the U.S. Census Bureau. PSEO matches up degree recipients with job data to provide a range of insights on where graduates end up and how much they earn over time.
The median wage for someone with a PCC Associate’s degree five years postgrad is $46,532. A worker with a PSU bachelor’s degree 5 years postgraduation earns $51,041. As with many colleges, instructional programs at PCC and PSU with the highest earnings postgrad include construction trades, health professions, engineering, and computer and information.
Read more about postsecondary economic outcomes here on QualityInfo.org.
Data Request of the Month: Gresham Unemployment Statistics
I was asked about unemployment data in the city of Gresham. The Employment Department produces unemployment estimates for all cities in Oregon, so I was able to provide the following data below: annual 2023 unemployment statistics for the city of Gresham. If you have similar questions, please reach out!
Good Reads
“Young families have continued leaving big cities post-pandemic”, by Connor O’Brien, Economic Innovation Group.
“Setting the Record Straight on Racial Wealth Inequality”, by Fenaba Addo, William Darity & Samuel L. Myers Jr, American Economic Association.
“Industrial Policy in the Global Semiconductor Sector”, by Pinelopi K. Goldberg, Réka Juhász, Nathan J. Lane, Giulia Lo Forte & Jeff Thurk, National Bureau of Economic Research.
“The distributional consequences of recessions”, by Tyler Smith, American Economic Association.
“How NEPA Will Tax Clean Energy”, by Aidan Mackenzie, Institute for Progress.
“Reducing poverty among older and disabled adults by increasing participation in SSI and SNAP”, by Wendell Primus & Chloe Zilkha, The Brookings Institution.
The articles, research and publications herein are solely for educational purposes and do not imply endorsement nor reflect the views of the Oregon Employment Department.
Thanks for reading! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any specific questions about the economy, or if you have suggestions of material I should include in the economic indicators in the future.