Back in the day, Portland was the economic growth engine of the greater metro area. Now, it lags compared with the suburbs, especially Clark County, Wash.

That’s the latest word from Multnomah County economist Jeff Renfro, who briefed the county’s Board of Commissioners on budget matters today. That doughnut shape, with slumping Multnomah County as the hole in the middle, is strange, Renfro said.

“Metro areas tend to go up and down together,” Renfro said. “To have one county in a metro area that’s performing pretty well and then one that’s really lagging is unusual.”

Federal figures show that the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metropolitan area suffered the biggest employment losses of any large metro in August. Unemployment rose to 5.3% from 4.3%, according to the U.S. Department of La

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