Governor Brown is announcing a new plan to cautiously reopen parts of Oregon’s economy in the coming weeks. While this may signal positive news for some industries, we are a long way from having a picture of the full economic impact the virus will have on the economy. One tool that could help is CHUMRA’s new Economic Vulnerability Index.

The Index uses a region’s mix of industries to measure economic vulnerability. The index looks at the balance of sectors expected to experience large losses (ex. Accommodations and Food Service, Retail) with sectors where expected losses are small (ex. Utilities, Public Administration). An average vulnerability score is 100, representing the average job loss expected in the United States. Portland Metro straddles the national average, with Washington County slightly lower at 90.53 and Multnomah County slightly higher at 103.75. The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro MSA’s score on the vulnerability index is 97.68. This could be good news for our region.

Click here to explore the index for counties and MSA’s around the United States.

DATE POSTED: TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2020