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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Other services: the mystery industry that hasn't shaken the recession

You’ve heard the phrase "service-producing industries," right? The service-producing segment of the economy includes such activities as financial services, educational services, health care services, and other services. Things like financial services and health services are reasonably self-explanatory, but what about those other services?

Other services is one of the smaller and less influential components of Oregon's economy, so it sometimes gets overlooked in higher-level analyses. Nevertheless, it contributes more than 50,000 jobs to this state's total employment.

The three primary components of other services include repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, and membership associations and organizations. Examples of employers in the membership associations and organizations subcategory include homeowners associations, fraternal lodges, chambers of commerce, advocacy groups, and your local place of worship.

Througho
ut the downturn, Oregon's other services employment held up better than most categories, but after the recession was over, it fared worse than the overall average.

So, is stating that Oregon's other services industry "hasn't fared too badly" still appropriate? Yes and no. The answer is yes in the sense that the industry didn't suffer nearly as much as many others during the deep downturn of 2007 through 2010. But the answer is no in 2011 because of recent unexplained sputtering in this industry's Oregon employment trend. And that's one more reason to call other services the mystery industry.

Learn more about this industry in the full article, written by Regional Economist Jason Yohannan.

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