2009 will go down as one of the toughest years for the Portland economy since the early 1980’s, with only the Great Depression causing noticeably more pain. While we all know how tough the second half of 2008 was, there was little to prepare us for the turbulent waters and gale forces winds which impacted the Portland economy and commercial real estate in 2009. So just what happened here in 2009?
Portland Economy: The big surprise of 2009 was just how weak the Portland economy was. Over the twelve months ending in October 2009, we have lost 53,200 wage and salary jobs, or over 5% our employment base. In addition, our unemployment rate rose from 6.8% in October 2008 to 11.6% in October 2009.
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