Senate committee hears economists: Portland, Multnomah County face slower growth, housing and fiscal strain

Senate Committee on Labor and Business Chair Taylor convened an informational hearing April 22 on the 2025 state of the economy for Portland and Multnomah County, where ECONorthwest and state economists described slower population growth, weak job recovery and a decline in housing production that they said could depress local revenues.

The briefing matters because Portland is the state’s largest economic hub and prolonged underperformance in jobs, population and housing production can reduce tax revenues, strain public services and create negative feedback loops that further erode local quality of life and economic competitiveness.

Mike Wilkerson, director of economic research at ECONorthwest, told the committee that the region has shifted from being one of the fastest-growing metros before the pandemic to one of the weakest-performing among the largest U.S. metros. "The narrative around the doom loop has, I think, disproportionately taken away from the actual message, which is what are the contributing factors to growth in the region?" Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson emphasized three broad drivers: large structural changes to the economy, an overreliance on population…