In introducing a presentation on the state of Portland’s economy, Portland Business Alliance director Andrew Hoan didn’t try to lessen the blow of the latest data.

“We’re in for a doozy,” Hoan told a room full of Portland business owners and investors Tuesday morning.

He wasn’t wrong. A report on the city’s economy by financial consulting firm ECONorthwest, commissioned by the region’s largest chamber of commerce, put numbers to some of the anecdotal fears shared by Portland businesses and policymakers since the COVID-19 pandemic cratered the local and global economy.

Compared to other similarly-sized cities, the report says, Portland has lagged behind on recovering financially since 2020. Like most cities across the United States, Portland saw a huge drop in employment as the pandemic began in spring 2020. But while cities such as Austin and Salt Lake City saw their employment rates return to pre-pandemic levels by April 2021, Portland waited until July 2022 to see a return to 2019 employment levels.

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