Oregon posts nation’s third-fastest GDP growth

Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 5, 2018

Economic output grew faster in Oregon than in all but two other states during the fourth quarter of 2017, the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Thursday.

Oregon’s gross domestic product, or GDP, grew 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter, behind Idaho (4.8 percent) and Texas (5.2 percent). GDP is the bureau’s most comprehensive measure of economic activity.

As with other leading states, Oregon’s growth in the fourth quarter was led by durable goods manufacturing. Thursday’s release didn’t include industry-level details, but for 2016, computer and electronic product manufacturing accounted for 66 percent of all manufacturing in Oregon, BEA spokesman Thomas Dail noted.

Oregon did not perform as well as neighboring states in the rest of 2017. Real GDP growth for the year was 2.5 percent, smaller than Idaho (2.7 percent), California (3 percent), Nevada (3.5 percent) and Washington (4.4 percent).

Oregon’s economy shrank by 0.6 percent in the first quarter 2017, which dragged down the state’s full-year growth rate, Dail said. Two industries, real estate leasing and retail, were the biggest contributors to growth in Oregon during 2017 as a whole.

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