I keep calling for someone to aggregate the significant economic statistics for Bend and for Oregon, but no one seems to want to do it. So I'll take a stab at it.
I assembled the following stats over a couple of days. It's a bit of a mishmash, and there may even be more up to date statistics, but it's the best I can do without spending days on it.
From now on it should be much clearer, as I catch the news items on the days and weeks as they happen.
It need not be all negative statistics, just significant statistics -- that point to exceptional differences. If anyone can point out some valid positive stats, I'll be glad to include them. If anyone can find any other eye-opening stats, I'd love to see them.
I'm doing this because these types of stories go whizzing by, and there is no way to really keep them in perspective without comparing. I remember reading a story about Bend being the "Most Over-Retailed" town in America a few years ago, and I've never been able to find it since, so I'd like to catch those kinds of articles as well.
This is just a baby step. Like my my other open post, "Downtown Openings and Closings," I will repost this on a regular basis as information is updated.
*****BEND and/or OREGON'S EXCEPTIONAL STATISTICS*****
***9/6/09: BEND BULLETIN.
"...tourism for the last fiscal year fell 9.5% in unincorporated Deschutes County and 14.4 percent in Bend..."
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***9/4/09: BBC NEWS.
Economic crash in Oregon boomtown
By Adam Brookes
*The population of Bend quadrupled in under 20 years - from 20,000 to 80,000.
*Between 2001 and 2005, the median value of a home in Bend rose by 80%.
*By 2005, work was getting underway on 700 new homes each month.
*But when the US slumped, Bend crashed. The value of a home fell 40% in under two years.
*And unemployment nearly quadrupled from around 4% two years ago to 15% in the summer of 2009.
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***9/5/09: FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON.
29%. Largest two year shortfall in two-year state budget by percent.
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***6/11/09: IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT.
Top 10 Overvalued Housing Markets, 2009 first quarter
City Price Percent overvalued
Atlantic City, N.J. $243,600 44.1
Ocean City, N.J. $302,100 33.8
Wenatchee $247,100 29.3
Longview $192,600 26.6
Honolulu, Hawaii $614,500 25.7
St. George, Utah $197,000 25
Bend, Ore. $240,800 24.9
Bellingham, Wash. $288,900 24.2
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***6/30/09: ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Third highest jump in unemployment.
"About 15 percent of people living in Bend are unemployed, up from about 8.8 percent last year this time. Bend's jump was third-highest in the nation of any sized city, according to the report."
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***9/2/09: KTVZ.COM.
"Central Oregon ranks sixth in the nation in overall homelessness rates and third among rural communities, according to a report just released this week by the National Alliance to End Homeless."
CoCs with Highest Rates of Homelessness (per 10,000)
1. Detroit, MI 216
2. Mendocino County, CA 161.3
3. Monroe County, FL 146.9
4. Portland, ME 116
5. Santa Cruz, CA 111.7
6. Central Oregon 110.5
7. Merced, CA 109.3
8. Santa Barbara, CA 106.1
9. Boston, MA 98
10.District of Columbia 96.6
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***9/-/09: BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas
Monthly Rankings
Not Seasonally Adjusted
July 2009
341 Bend, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 13.9
(#341 out of 372 Metro Areas.)
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***9/-/09: BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Unemployment Rates for States
Monthly Rankings
Seasonally Adjusted
July 2009p
47** OREGON ** 11.9
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***6/17/09: NEW YORK TIMES.
Slump Dashes Oregon Dreams of Californians
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
"Now the Californians who contributed to Oregon’s growth are in some cases adding to its economic struggle. As of May, Oregon had the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 12.4 percent, behind Michigan. California, which has not released its May figures, ranked fifth in April.
While some other states with high unemployment, including Michigan, have seen their labor forces shrink, Oregon’s labor force has grown. Economists say some of the growth appears to be driven by people who moved here with money they made in California, whether from real estate or stock market investments, and expected to get by but now must look for work."
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2 comments:
"As of May, Oregon had the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 12.4 percent, behind Michigan."
You'll be happy to know that we've fallen to 11.9% and we're now only fourth-highest, behind Michigan (15%), Rhode Island (12.7%) and Nevada (12.5%). Huzzah!
(Of course how much of that "drop" is due to people simply giving up and dropping out of the workforce is another question.)
Also our improvement in the standings seems to be the result of other states getting worse rather than Oregon getting (significantly) better.
Dunc, in BB2 the last few weeks I noted that according to the city budget reports we are actually all the way back down below 2005 room tax collections...
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