Oregon Public Broadcasting

Quarterly economic studies of three of Oregon’s largest metropolitan areas find evidence of a sustained recovery. Rob Manning reports on the numbers out Thursday.

University of Oregon economist Tim Duy uses job data, housing numbers and other factors in his quarterly reports on Portland, Eugene, and Bend.

All three areas have shown an increase on Duy’s business index over the last two quarters.

Duy says unemployment claims are shrinking and in some places tourism income is growing. Overall, Duy says it looks like Oregon is seeing slow but sustainable economic growth.

Tim Duy: "I’m pretty confident that we’ve turned that corner. There’s always this odd chance that something goes wrong in the second half of this year."

Duy says this week’s announcement of a state budget shortfall could slow the economy.

He says it's possible Oregon is still feeling the last benefits of the federal stimulus.

The business indexes aren’t where they were a few years ago, but Duy says it may be a very long time before some of the factors – like housing starts – get anywhere close.