Because Facts Matter, OCPP Regrets and Corrects Error

In the interest of transparency and because facts matter, we are disclosing the error and correcting all OCPP materials containing the mistake.

Salem-News.com

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - We take great care in presenting unassailable facts. Thus, it is with regret that we report that, when updating a fact we released last August, we uncovered a methodological error in our original calculations.

The fact was disseminated widely by us and others and we are compelled to point out and correct the error.

In our paper An Economy for the Few, OCPP reported that the highest-income 1 percent of households collected 97 percent of all income gains in Oregon from 2002 to 2005, the first three years of the most recent economic cycle. That figure subsequently appeared in other OCPP materials and has been used by other researchers, advocates and organizations.

In updating the figure with new data from the Oregon Department of Revenue, we discovered a mistake in our original calculations. The correct share of Oregon income growth from 2002 to 2005 that went to the top 1 percent was 47 percent. In other words, the top 1 percent took nearly half of all income gains during the first three years of the recovery. Our analysis of the change in average income of the top 1 percent and middle-income households was not affected.

Our updated analysis using 2006 data shows that from 2002 to 2006 the top 1 percent collected 39 percent of all income gains in Oregon.

In the interest of transparency and because facts matter, we are disclosing the error and correcting all OCPP materials containing the mistake. We sincerely apologize to those who used the erroneous information.

The evidence remains overwhelming that economic growth in Oregon is not producing shared prosperity. For instance, not only did the wealthiest collect 39 percent of all income gains, but from 2002 to 2006, the first four years of the most recent economic expansion, the richest 1 percent of Oregon households saw their average incomes increase by $299,000 above inflation, while middle-income households saw their incomes increase by just $72.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

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Editor's note: If all organizations were as accountable and forthright as this one, there would be fewer problems in the world. We appreciate the honest of OCPP.

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