Year in reflection: Layoffs dampen local economy
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Hundreds of Portlanders from various industries lost their jobs in 2024, with cuts hitting some of the region's largest employers.
The big picture: Nike, Intel, Columbia Sportswear, UPS, Vacasa, and advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy all either downsized or restructured their workforces.
Context: Losing a number of high-earning workers can negatively impact a region's economy, as they account for a disproportionate share of consumer spending.
- Plus: It reduces tax revenue for local governments if those workers leave for other jobs, impacting public services.
The latest: We asked Mike Wilkerson, the director of economic research at ECOnorthwest, about the state of Portland's economy, and where we go from here.
- This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
It's been a layoff-heavy year. Where does Portland's economy stand?
- "Compared to the largest 50 metros, the Portland metro is 45th for growth and has been as low as 49th in the last six months."
- "The metro added roughly 6,000 jobs in the last 12 months, but 4,400 of those were in Clark County. So 75% of the growth is happening in Washington state."
- "Multnomah County has never recovered from the pandemic. We are still down 27,000 jobs."
What is most worrisome for you?
- "A lot of these layoffs are happening in small doses. We're getting hit in all of our sectors — construction, manufacturing, professional business services."
- "It's nearly impossible to grow your economy from a jobs perspective when your population is declining."
- "If you look at the industries that are laying off workers, those are our most productive industries. Semiconductors are more important to the Oregon economy, other than natural resource extraction, so layoffs there is cause for some concern."
How are 2025's economic prospects looking?
- "I expect there to be some economic tailwinds around the bridge replacement project, certainly any CHIPS activity — big projects that are going to engage the construction sector and the supply chain are crucial."
- "Our central city is grappling with a new normal, where employees are in office on average three days a week. The cyclical impact is that if downtown continues to struggle, that's hard to overcome for the rest of the state."