A sobering report says Multnomah County, the state’s main economic engine, ranked second from last in private-sector job creation among 194 Western counties and five multicounty areas from 1997 to 2009.
That’s the stark conclusion of a report being issued today by the leaders of five Oregon business entities, who plan a jobs summit Jan. 21 to address what they see as an economic crisis.
Their report, already disputed by an internationally known Oregon economist, places high-tech, green-oriented Portland in league with fallen Rust Belt cities.
“Where we were once virtually an economic twin to Seattle, our falling incomes now make us more like Pittsburgh and Cleveland,” the report says. “It is time to make private-sector job creation our immediate and top priority.”
Read more in today’s Oregonian.
