Oregon faces a string of job losses, but the new director of Prosper Portland envisions growth through collaboration with city agencies and private developers.<\/p>\n
PORTLAND, Oregon \u2014 Portland\u2019s ongoing push for economic growth comes at a time when Oregon\u2019s labor market appears to be faltering, with nearly 25,000 jobs lost in the past year and downtown vacancies prompting calls to convert offices into housing to attract investment.<\/p>\n
State employment economist Gail Krumenauer said Oregon has shed 2,700 positions in the most recent month alone and is trailing national recovery figures. Normally, a leader \u2014 or a \u201chigh flyer,\u201d so to speak \u2014 in job growth during economic rebounds, the state has slipped into negative territory over the past year.<\/p>\n
Most of the decline has been\u00a0in manufacturing<\/a>, dropping 9,400 jobs \u2014 roughly 5% of its workforce \u2014 while construction and finance each lost about 4% amid high interest rates.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not all doom and gloom. Krumenauer said private health care and social assistance remain strong, adding about 10,000 jobs for a 3.2% annual gain.<\/p>\n A buzzword that\u2019s become increasingly common \u2014 economic uncertainty \u2014 is likely the culprit for the downturn, said Bahram Adrangi, professor of economics at the University of Portland. Businesses big and small, from agriculture to manufacturing, are reeling from it \u2014 and it\u2019s\u00a0creating a lot of consternation<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n “Uncertainty is the killer of business,” Adrangi said.<\/p>\n So, what does this mean for Portland?\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosper Portland\u2019s new executive director, Cornell Wesley, said the city must lure outside investment to counteract the slowdown. He pointed to the low cost of office space as a potential draw, saying that a $30-per-square-foot rate is attractive to national and even international investors.<\/p>\n “We would welcome the opportunity to continue to partner with organizations like the Portland Housing Bureau as we begin to reimagine what some of those assets can look like, whether that’s an affordable home situation or whether that’s workforce housing,” Wesley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He added that any turnaround will require close cooperation among city agencies and private developers. That collaboration, Wesley said, is just as important in neighborhoods beyond downtown.<\/p>\n The Gateway district, on Portland\u2019s east side, has faced years of slow economic progress. City Councilor Jamie Dunphy recently called Gateway \u201cthe biggest failure of the organization,\u201d citing that Prosper Portland has spent in total $88 million trying to bring the neighborhood to life, Willamette Week<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n RELATED:\u00a0Gateway Fred Meyer location to close<\/a><\/p>\n Wesley acknowledged the challenges faced in the district but defended Prosper Portland\u2019s work, saying the agency is committed to the area\u2019s success and cannot carry sole responsibility.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important that we work closer with our media partners so that they are equipped with real-time information around the investments and the impact that has been yielding in Gateway,\u201d Wesley said.<\/p>\n He cited the Green Line transit investment and new childcare services as examples of ongoing improvements.<\/p>\n But that change could be made more difficult with the national uncertainty \u2014 that U-word again \u2014 that Adrangi warned about. He said that national uncertainty \u2014 ranging from trade policy to global market volatility \u2014 is discouraging investment across industries. Even if the Federal Reserve cut rates<\/a>, consumer confidence remains weak.<\/p>\n \u201cLower interest rates mean there\u2019s a sale on credit,\u201d Adrangi said, \u201cbut the consumer spending is down \u2026 I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s going to send them rushing to consume.\u201d<\/p>\n
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