On the upside, nearly 88% of respondents were not anticipating layoffs at their companies for 2002, and one respondent reported that his company will hire more than 220 people this year in Oregon.

When asked to judge current workplace morale compared to the same time in 2001, 51.6% of respondents said morale has improved, 36.8% reported that morale levels are the same and 11.6% felt that their workplace morale is worse today than in early 2001. One respondent's optimism was based on an observation of "continued spending for employees, customers and colleagues."

Most respondents felt that Oregon's economy is gradually improving. "We saw the beginning impact of the economic downturn in about August 2000," according to one respondent. "We can now see improvement; morale has steadily improved in the last two to three months."