State of Business 2020
On December 15th, the Springfield Chamber convened for the 2020 State of Business, presented by PeaceHealth. The second ever State of Business program changed to a digital format – a sign of the many changes 2020 brought to our local and State economy. Joined by 60 members, the program dug into the data on an economically challenging 2020 and tried to peer through the murkiness and uncertainty of what that meant for 2021. Facilitated by Lane Small Business Development Director, Robert Killen, the program featured Tim Duy, University of Oregon Professor of Practice in Economics and Senior Director of the Oregon Economic Forum.
Duy’s presentation, titled After the Fall: The Pandemic Recovery, took an honest view of the economic stresses imposed by COVID-19 responses in Oregon, and also struck an optimistic chord when looking ahead to the outlook for 2021. Duy pointed to a strong rebound from a sharp downturn in the 2nd Quarter of 2020 as an indicator that for most industries business is returning, while acknowledging that specific industries like leisure and hospitality face big challenges with the current COVID-19 restrictions. Even as uncertainty continues to hang over the timeline for lifting current restrictions, vaccination programs, and other pieces of the recovery puzzle, changes in wages, salaries, and savings also indicated pent up demand and disposable income for some consumers. This may be another indicator that as consumer confidence returns, so could strong economic performance in Oregon.
To begin the Q&A session, three Chamber and Business leaders submitted questions to focus the program on some of the region’s most impacted industries. Jason Stubbs of Oregon Insurance Company (Small Business), Tina Patel of ALKO Hotels (Hospitality), and Avril Watt of Johnson Crushers International (Manufacturing) posed thoughtful questions to cut to the heart of issues on the forefront of our local economy. Thank you to all of our participants who joined us in the open question and answer session and on our live Zoom broadcast.
Thank you again to PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend for sponsoring the program, with a special thank you to Todd Salnas (CEO, PeaceHealth Oregon Network) for giving our attendees special insight into PeaceHealth to kick off the program. Thank you also to virtual table sponsor McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.
To view the program in its entirety, follow the Springfield Chamber YouTube channel, or click on the link below:
