A look at Oregon's Gross Domestic Product

Gross domestic product is the value in dollars of all goods and services produced within an area during a specific time period. In other words, we can think of GDP as how we measure the total size of an economy. It is often used as an indicator of a country's standard of living.

After outpacing the national average and our neighboring states in GDP growth in 2006, 2007, and 2008, Oregon's GDP growth quickly took a big step in reverse in 2009 when it contracted 2.4 percent. This was the first time Oregon's GDP had shown an annual decline since 2001. Oregon's 2.4 percent decline in 2009 ranked it 36th among the 50 states. The nation fared slightly better than Oregon with U.S. GDP declining only 2.1 percent in 2009.

Looking at Oregon's 2009 decline in GDP at an industry level, construction and durable goods manufacturing experienced the greatest declines. Oregon wasn't alone; durable goods manufacturing and construction showed the largest GDP declines at the national level as well. Construction and durable goods manufacturing accounted for nearly 53 percent of Oregon's GDP decline in 2009. Nationally, those two industries were responsible for 44 percent of the 2009 decline in GDP.

Read more about Oregon's gross domestic product in the full article, written by regional economist Pat O'Connor (541-812-8639 | Patrick.S.Oconnor@state.or.us).