The Portland region’s most recent economic indicators, as studied by Jake Procino, workforce analyst and economics from the Oregon Employment Department, have been released. Here are the takeaways.
1. By “the Portland area,” we mean “Portland,” right?
Well, you'd think so, right? Not so much.
In fact, economists use the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes (gulp) Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties in Oregon, and Clark and Skamania counties in Washington. That’s the area we’ll refer to below as the Portland MSA.
On the other hand, when Procino uses “Multnomah County,” he means just that.
So, it can get confusing.
2. How does the local unemployment rate stack up to the rest of Oregon?
Pretty well.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Oregon held at 4.2% in May, moderately higher than the 3.4% in May 2023.
Multnomah County’s unemployment rate held steady at 4% in May. At the same time, the Portland MSA rate remained at 4.1%. Both rates are above where they were a year ago. (Both were 3.3% in May 2023.)
By the way, Oregon’s unemployment rate remains similar to that of the United States, at 4%.
3. Minimum wage is the same everywhere, right?
Yeeeah, no.
Oregon is the only state in the union with staggered minimum wages: One for Portland and the inner, urbanized suburbs, one for smaller urban areas, and one for rural parts of the state. (Those are known as the Portland, standard and nonrural sectors.)
The theory behind the three-tier system is that the robust economy of the Portland region can more easily take the impact of wage hikes than smaller communities.
Oregon’s minimum wage increased everywhere on July 1, but the raises aren’t the same everywhere. The minimum wage increased to $15.95 per hour inside the Portland urban growth boundary, $13.70 per hour in the nonurban counties, and $14.70 in other urban areas of the state.
Between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, Oregon’s minimum wages were $15.45 per hour within the Portland sector, $14.20 in the standard sector, and $13.20 in the nonurban sector.
Roughly 4.1% of all jobs in Oregon (approximately 91,000 out of 2.22 million) paid minimum wage or less in the third quarter of 2023.
Multnomah County had 20,500 minimum-wage jobs, the most of any county. Minimum-wage gigs made up 3.8% of the county's total jobs.
Read more about Oregon’s minimum wage sectors here .
4. Where do we see strengths and weaknesses in the local jobs market?
From May 2023 to May 2024, Multnomah County lost jobs in several key economic sectors. We ditched 100 jobs in transportation and warehousing, lost 800 more in manufacturing, dropped 1,500 in accommodations and food service, and ditched a whopping 1,700 in retail trade. The only uptick? That was in construction, which saw an additional 800 jobs appear.
Total nonfarm employment for Multnomah County dropped by 1,200 jobs in that period.
5. How does the Portland MSA stack up for job growth compared to other cities?
Are you sitting down?
The answer is: Not so hot.
Only five large cities lost jobs between April 2023 and April 2024. And yup, Portland’s right there at the bottom, along with Milwaukee, New Orleans, Denver and Memphis.
The top of the charts includes Las Vegas, where job growth grew by 3.9% (apparently, what happens in Vegas comes with a paycheck). Oklahoma City is OK at 3% growth, followed by Sacramento at 2.9%.
Our area is often compared to Seattle’s metropolitan service area, which was in the bottom third nationally at 1.1% growth.
Want to know more about the regional economy? Check out this site .
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