This week, the mayor's office and the Portland Development Commission presented the city's three-year status report (PDF) on the economic development plan Mayor Sam Adams kicked off in 2009.

The report paints a rather rosy picture of the city, especially given the recent report of Portland having the highest underemployment rate in the country among its young, college-educated residents.

But some things definitely shine through: Portland is on a better path to recovery than the rest of the country. Since we bottomed-out in 2009, the county has added 15,000 jobs. We were uh, grim and glib about those prospects back in 2009, so this is something of a surprise. Of course, the whole country is doing better than we feared it would back then.

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On the other hand, rent has increased about 10 percent in that time and median income is down. All in all, it's hard to discern whether life is actually easier overall for Portlanders now than it was in 2009, but certainly many more of us are back to work.