A report released by City Observatory finds that the jobs are increasingly moving to the inner city.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
A report released by Portland-based think tank, City Observatory, finds that the jobs are increasingly moving to the inner city.
Willamette Week reports on the study:
The report compared employment growth rate in 41 American cities’ urban cores—defined as the central business-district and a three-mile radius—to the surrounding metro area. From 2007 to 2011, jobs in the core grew on average at 0.5 percent per year, while employment in the surrounding metro area declined by 0.1 percent.
The study shows a reversal of fortune for downtowns, which saw slower job growth a decade ago. It also reinforces other reports of a cultural renaissance happening in many American big-city centers. Portland’s urban core grew at 0.8 percent annually from 2007 to 2011, slightly above the national average of 0.5 percent.
The WW’s story quoted economist and City Observatory director (and Oregon Business policy columnist) Joe Cortright, who said the shift is based on tech companies preferring downtown offices.
“The remarkable thing about Portland, is it exhibited the same pattern that we saw nationally but more so,” Cortright says in the story. “While the city center job growth was behind the suburbs and the periphery in the earlier period—2002 to 2007—Portland’s city center did better than the typical city center and is still doing better.”
Meanwhile, OregonLive.com’s Mike Rogoway and Elliot Njus report that new tech companies are leaving their mark on the Portland skyline.
Portland’s tech companies rarely compete head-to-head for customers. They occupy narrow niches, from social networking tools to data center management. There is fierce competition, though, for tech-savvy employees. And companies want to get their names out any way they can.
San Francisco-based New Relic, which has its engineering office in downtown Portland, put a billboard up last year at the west end of the Morrison Bridge. The sign advertised New Relic’s website-monitoring service, but New Relic is a global company with few clients in Oregon. Its real target was prospective employees. With the same target in mind, eBay said last fall it wanted a sign on its building at the south end of downtown to help raise awareness of its Portland outpost, which is focused on mobile development. Successful recruitment, the company’s local managers say, is key to convincing executives in California to authorize further expansion in Oregon.
The Portland Business Journal posted a story suggesting a tax incentive could be driving Portland’s tech resurgence.
The city council will consider renew the policy that irks taxpayer advocates but is seen favorably by businesses.
Specifically, the city will consider combining its “Portland Enterprise Zone and East Portland Enterprise Zone” into one strategy that, among other goals, could benefit electronic commerce companies. The Portland Development Commission already passed the changes. The City Council is reviewing the PDC’s work Wednesday morning.
The program would still tie into Oregon’s enterprise zone program that allows jurisdictions to offer abatements — generally five years — to businesses that create and retain jobs. The new policy would “specifically call out e-Commerce as a vital part of the program and will align program requirements” with other e-commerce offerings.
