The free-spending days that followed the pandemic are over.<\/p>\n
Oregonians\u2019 spending grew by just 5.1% last year, according to recently published data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That\u2019s down sharply from 2021, when consumer spending grew by more than 13% as federal stimulus payments loosened up purse strings \u2014 and as inflation drove up the cost of most everything.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Consumer spending in Oregon has closely tracked national spending since the start of the pandemic, according to the federal data, though Oregon spending fell a bit more steeply last year.<\/p>\n
Inflation fell to just 2.9% in 2024, which means that spending was increasing faster than the prices of the items that people were buying. That suggests a degree of underlying economic optimism, both in Oregon and across the country.<\/p>\n
Heading into the holiday shopping season, though, that optimism may be waning. An annual survey of household spending plans by the consumer research firm Circana finds shoppers expect to spend just 3.2% more this season, with most expecting prices will be higher because of the Trump administration\u2019s trade war.<\/p>\n
\u201cRetail is facing a reality check, with cost concerns front and center,\u201d the consulting firm PwC (formerly Pricewaterhouse Coopers) writes in its own annual holiday sales forecast. Its survey predicts a 5% drop in holiday spending, the first significant drop since 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are going to keep shopping,\u201d PwC predicts, \u201cbut with continuing concerns about tariffs and elevated prices (especially on electronics, apparel, toys, food, and household staples), value-conscious choices are likely to define the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is Oregon Insight, The Oregonian\u2019s weekly look at the numbers behind the state\u2019s economy. View past installments here<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The free-spending days that followed the pandemic are over. Oregonians\u2019 spending grew by just 5.1% last year, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-281892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}