After six years of economic improvement, national economic leaders will gather in Portland to address the future of the recovery, the job market, investments and the middle class in the 2015 Oregon Economic Forum.

The event will be held Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.

Forum director Tim Duy, an economist at the UO, and Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist of Key Private Bank, kick off the hour-long event with a status update of Oregon’s and the country’s economies. They will take a closer look at the financial markets and preview the economic forecast for 2016.

Moderator Brad DeLong, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, will then guide a broader conversation about Federal Reserve policy, the extent of any effect on the U.S. from China’s slowing economy and what is – or isn’t – happening to inflation.

The state’s leading economists follow with a dive into Oregon’s economic past, present and future.

Mark McMullen, state economist for Oregon, Tom Potiowsky, chair of the Department of Economics at Portland State University and former state economist, and Christopher Allanach, an economist in the Legislative Revenue Office, will look at the changing structure of the state’s economy and its revenue streams, and reflect on the importance of migration in the state’s economy. They will also talk about what Oregonians can do to ensure a bright economic future.

Jim Tankersley of The Washington Post will delve into the current economic health of the middle class in the keynote address, “Reflections on the Middle Class in the Aftermath of the Great Depression.” Tankersley covers economic policy for the Post.

The Oregon Economic Forum is an initiative of the UO College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Economics. Event sponsors, in addition to KeyBank, are the Portland Business Journal, Port of Portland, NW Natural, Kinesis and Portland Business Alliance.