ECONOMIC

Trends & Challenges for
Oregon Businesses
An Interview with Business Oregon
Director Chris Harder
Oregon businesses continue to grow exports, revenues, jobs and the
economy. To help cities understand Oregon’s present economic development
circumstances, trends and challenges, we asked the new director of
Business Oregon for some perspective on state level efforts and priorities to help
businesses grow and help communities develop their infrastructure to support
future business expansion.
Please give us a brief biographic sketch of your
background.
I grew up in Oregon, and most recently served as economic
development director at the Portland Development Commission.
In that role, I managed the Business & Industry
Division, leading Portland’s business retention, expansion and
recruitment efforts, as well as programs to support entrepreneurship,
innovation and trade. Before that, I was the
director of economic analysis for the North Carolina Department
of Commerce and a senior budget analyst in the North
Carolina Office of State Budget and Management. I think my
mix of experience in leading business development, innovation
programs, economic analysis work and management are a
great fit for my new role.
Oregon is seeing business growth—what industries are
seeing the most? What are the current trends? What
about areas of decline?
Our research and policy team just completed an updated
analysis on industry trends and concentration. Software and
IT employment at companies like Elemental and Simple has
grown by more than 50 percent in the past 10 years, with
solid projections over the next 10. Professional and technical
services has also grown by slightly more than 50 percent.
Food and beverage employment at companies like ConAgra in
Boardman grew by almost 30 percent in the past 10 years, and
has grown exports by more than 150 percent. This growth
is also happening at a much higher rate than other states.
Computer electronics and semiconductor are always a huge
part of our economic engine, paying wages of about $5 billion
in Oregon, and employing 40,000.
In looking for areas of decline…simply put, there are none
in the short-term right now. Every significant industry and
regional economy in Oregon is growing. But, with diverse
regional economies that growth is slower in some areas than
others and started much later in some than others. Oregon’s
most significant industries have all shown some level of
growth across multiple indicators. If you took a narrow look
at just one indicator of larger industries, you can find decline.
For instance, wood and forest products have seen a long-term
employment decline, but that’s not the whole story, it has
grown employment by 17 percent in the last five years, and
10-year export growth is about 50 percent, with an average
wage above the state average. So it is still a competitive and
important industry for Oregon.
The Legislature is passing more and more property tax
economic development incentives, while economic
development purposed income tax credits are on the
decline. This means local governments are giving up
more revenues while the state is giving up less. How can
local governments and the state partner on incentives?
Looking at most of the larger projects that are using incentives
around the state, I’d say there is good partnership taking
place, with firms using both property tax abatement like
enterprise zones and strategic investment programs, and state
cash incentives like the Business Expansion Program and Strategic
Reserve Fund, as well as e-commerce zone credits. Our
financing programs are also very popular for small businesses
looking for access to capital. The benefit of the property tax
abatement is that it can entice development and significant
capital expenses for businesses that might not happen but for
the incentive, and then the property comes on the tax rolls
after a finite period of time, while still paying tax on the land
as well as community service fees all the while.
16 LOCAL FOCUS | June 2016 www.orcities.org