It’s easy to not understand what’s going on in Oregon economics. Lack of information and lack of understanding of the information. Bad calculations. Stupid assumptions. The list is long.

One crutch we have leaned on to better understand Oregon’s economy has been the state’s Office of Economic Analysis. Its most noticeable duty is producing reports on the government economic and revenue forecasts. But it does more than that.

Our favorite product of that office has long been its blog. Often it has taken a revealing dive in an Oregon-centered way to employment, housing, race, poverty, demographics. It offered data and analysis in an accessible way, for almost anybody, even an inexpert journalist.

The office is changing. Some of the staff is moving on and specifically, Josh Lehner, who was the regular author of the blog and who was most recently acting state chief economist is headed for the exit.

Maybe the new team will keep the blog going. We’d hate to see it go. It’s not like Oregonians and Oregon journalists couldn’t use the help to better understand Oregon economics.