May 27, 2003
5,000 Downtown Jobs Lost, According to Portland Business Alliance
Today's Portland Tribune reports more findings from the second annual business survey conducted by the Portland Business Alliance:
Downtown Portland lost nearly 5,000 jobs last year, a drop that brought total employment in the area bounded by Interstate 5 and Interstate 405 down to 83,023, according to the Portland Business Alliance's second annual business census.
The job losses represented "kind of a bleeding effect, across the board," said Wendi Valenti, the business group's market research manager, who directed the survey.
Overall, the results reflect the downturn in the economy.
"It's tough times right now for everyone," said Scenna Shipley, the alliance's vice president for business development. "Frankly, we're really encouraged that we've lost as few jobs as we did."
The survey was released last week, but still does not appear to be available on the Alliance website.