Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
at the margin.

## Labor Market Conditions — Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro

The Portland metro labor market is in equilibrium, neither expanding nor pulling back with any conviction. Employment is essentially flat over the past year, down just 0.58% — a decline too small to signal broad distress but enough to confirm that hiring has stalled. Momentum is holding steady, meaning there is no acceleration in either direction building beneath the surface.

The unemployment rate has risen roughly 22.5% relative to where it stood a year ago (Fig. 1). That growth rate reflects a meaningful softening in labor demand — more workers are available than the market is currently absorbing. It is worth noting that the underlying unemployment level remains within a plausible range, so this is a real shift in conditions, not a statistical quirk. The combination of flat employment and a rising unemployment rate points to a market where supply and demand are drifting apart, even if neither side has moved dramatically.