The Portland metropolitan area, including Clark County, fared worse during the Great Recession than the average for U.S. metropolitan areas, according to a recent report from the Portland Business Alliance. The region’s per capita employment dropped by 8 percent, leaving 81,200 fewer people employed, a worse drop than the U.S. metro average. And only 17,900 new workers have been added since early 2010.
The region performs below what’s expected of a metro area its size in income and employment, while peer regions such as Denver, Seattle and Minneapolis have exceeded per capita income expectations, says the report, written by ECONorthwest. The Portland-metro economy ranks 23rd in population size, 136th in per capita employment and 73rd in per capita income.
