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Our current relationship status with the economy is complicated. On one hand there is a lot moving in the right direction and on the other hand we have a significant sense of foreboding conversations in the months ahead. This quarter we developed a number of topics to help you be the most informed person at your holiday gatherings – or at least armed with an alarming number of random facts to deflect dicey relatives. Prepare to work your way through discussions on future potential/threatened policies, consumer behavior, shopping trends, housing affordability (thank you Mathew Gardner!), retail sales, construction and to bring it all home, the Washington State forecast. In mid-January we will hit record on the next podcast and see what we think of the next 30 days. Daily we will post 6-8 noteworthy items in our social media stream. Be sure to join us for those! We also do live shows throughout the state, if you are interested in having us talk with your group, please let us know.

We are once again adding bonus pages to our quarterly report. There was simply too much fascinating and informative content to leave on the virtual editing floor. Being nerdy economists, we considered that it is your paper and ink in the end, and we found ourselves incentivized to keep all of it. We can save the debate on cost transfer for another day. Sit down with a large beverage and give yourself time to digest this quarter’s report. We want you to struggle with variations within the economy, national debt implications, trade implications, retail patterns and even housing. Find someone to debate these topics with. We hope that all of this will prepare you for the intense conversations in the months ahead as we look to elections and the implications that come with those decisions. In mid-October we will hit record on the next podcast and see what we think of the next 30 days. Daily we will post 6-8 noteworthy items in our social media stream. Be sure to join us for those! We also do live shows throughout the state, if you are interested in having us talk with your group, please let us know.

We find that we must once again remind you that data has lags and that while you are preparing your summer plans, we are still receiving data from last winter. Part of forecasting the future is also forecasting the recent past. When we printed this report and mailed them, we were very restricted when it came to word counts and graphics. We might have made the printing team cry with this edition. We cover all the usual economic topics, but we have added three special articles and pages that should engage your brain. Our friends at Chmura Economics and Analytics have provided a deep dive on employment projections for our region. The charts alone are worth your time. Our student researchers took time away from their finals and papers to explore the economics of protests and climate change which are meant to bring you pause and reflection. In mid-July we will hit record on the next podcast and see what we think of the next 30 days. Daily we will post 6-8 noteworthy items in our social media stream. Be sure to join us for those! We also do live shows throughout the state, if you are interested in having us talk with your group, please let us know.

As we prepare to hit send on this edition, life in the Pacific Northwest is emerging from the long dark and wet days into threats of a warm Spring. The past few weeks have brought not only daffodils from the ground but also a host of economic data that further paints an outline of the year ahead. We respond to a lot of topics this quarter with data – recession, stagflation, labor changes, retail challenges, consumer sentiment sprinkled with a little about commercial real estate. We have not dove in to the emerging drama at Boeing here – yet. There is still too much unknown and it is too important to just speculate. We provide you more insights in this edition of the PS forecaster.

We have expressed concern about the forecast over the past several quarters, noting different headwinds that the model might not “see”. In each forecast in 2023, the model called for modest growth. And each time we wrote in this article why we were concerned that the forecast might be a little optimistic. So, as we finish the year, we are simultaneously going to acknowledge the importance of letting the numbers tell a story, while also expressing concern - yet again. The numbers continue to suggest the sort of modest growth you see in this quarter’s forecast. Worries emerge when we think about this ‘immaculate disinflation’ story or the elusive soft landing. Is it really possible we will have an extended period where the yield curve was inverted… and no recession? Is it really possible that consumer spending can slow – surely it must, at some point, right? – and no recession? Then again, if you’ve read the last several issues of the newsletter – you know to work with the forecast as presented and ignore the concerns expressed here.

Expectations. We all have them and yet they often vary even within small groups of people working with similar information. They are not entirely data driven but a mix of data and past experiences mixed with sprinkles of hopes, dreams and even fears. Many have expected a recession, some expect things to return to the way things were in 2019. Some would prefer another decade or two, but we will ignore that for today. These have in turn led people to take action and dig in for that coming reality that is clearly coming. Expectations are important because they allow the human in each of us to be prepared – to plan. They can also be limiting as we more easily dismiss contradictory information. In the articles ahead you will see this dissonance in our discussions. We encourage you to engage it, wrestle it, and question what you think you are so sure of. Do you belong to a group that would benefit from a discussion about our economy? Consider having us be your next speaker – drop us a note to learn more.

Transparency. It is a strange value sometimes. In our work here and within our research projects we strive to maintain a high level of transparency to allow for both a reader to have a good sense of the topic but also to be able to apply that knowledge to their specific situation. This quarter we start out with a discussion about concerns we have regarding the data that fuels our modeling and how it is rippling through while another article offers a great deal of comfort in the accuracy of our previous modeling. It is within the dichotomy we advise you to read carefully and consider how this may reveal itself in your economic reality. In the story of recovery/expansion/recession from a pandemic we are getting to the potentially really interesting part – the part where it is possible all the forecasts can actually happen but just not everywhere for everyone. Read and consider carefully. Engage with us on social media or have us come talk with your gathering. Be sure to catch our next podcast.

The optimism of Spring in the northern hemisphere is undeniable. Everything seems to be getting brighter, warmer and more full of life. We have found ourselves with far more emerging datapoints than we would prefer as this hits your mailbox. Labor data, inflation trends, housing affordability, construction and even retail are all talking to us. Yet, there is much to feel good about, many indicators to find comfort in. In this edition we explore all of it and invite you to join us in our next podcast in April where we will dig in more along with the monthly updates for our digital subscribers. Our social media stream will also continue to push out a daily barrage of informative articles and research that will help you keep a steady hand in your own economic discussions. Dig in, pull some weeds, find the signs of renewed growth and grab the vision for what is emerging.

As we head in to the season of merry and bright the regional and national economy is full of emotions. Some components are having a party and others are finding a lump of coal. We talk about the economy as if there is just one. Your economy may be different than your neighbors – an aspect that gets lost in averages and medians. There is simply a lot going on within the economy. Commodities are heavily influenced by externalities (and maybe some speculation). The employment landscape is complicated by those out of the workforce and changes in consumer demand. We sprinkle in interest rates, housing markets and a list of other ingredients and you do not get a sugar cookie. The reality is – a lot is going in the right direction and the year ahead has more of that return to normal that everyone asked Santa for. From all of us at WWU we wish you the happiest holiday season!

The return to normal is a reoccurring theme. It is basic human psychology at work that seldom aligns with the reality of a constant state of change. The pace of that change is the variable most of us are uncomfortable with. We do not get to “go back” but we do get to go forward, and things do get to settle back to a more comfortable state of discomfort. Rates – inflation, interest, unemployment, etc. all are starting to show a return to more usual levels some are there, and some are on a path to there. How consumers behave will have very real implications for the next 6-9 months – and how they perceive the world around them will play a large role in that. In this edition we take time to explain the complications – we encourage you to embrace the complexity and take the time to ask questions.