A Worrying Trend: Georgia Workers in Their Prime Earning Years Are Failing To Find Jobs

In Georgia in 2013, 1 out of 4 workers between ages 35 and 54 were not employed. 

This failure is causing continued drag on the State of Georgia's economy and should concern everyone, including policymakers.

It reverses the trend seen before the recession, when a greater proportion of people in their prime working years (ages 35-54) were employed in Georgia than for the United States as a whole.

The lines cross in 2009, and as the recovery has continued nationwide, those prime earning-years workers have failed to recover in Georgia. They are being left behind in Georgia, and they lack the income to boost economic activity in the state.

That failure has potential long-term implications for lifetime earnings for these workers carrying into their retirement years, which they will enter poorer than previous generations.

Meantime, older workers (ages 55-64 and 65+) are increasingly working, while their younger counterparts are having a harder time finding their place in today’s workforce.

Atlanta Metro Area and Georgia - Tough Beginning to 2014

From December 2013 to January 2014, Georgia dropped 56,200 jobs, not seasonally adjusted, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Once seasonal adjustment factors were included, the drop was only 600 jobs, a statistically insignificant decline.

The Atlanta metro area dropped 39,700 jobs from December 2013 to January 2014. Once seasonal adjustment factors were included the drop was 13,500, still a significant loss.

Weather, which turned tougher later in the winter, was not a significant factor during the collection period for the January data in the Southeast.

Chart 1. Statewide Georgia, Decline in Nonfarm Employment, December 2013 to January, 2014

Chart 2. Atlanta Metro Area, Decline in Nonfarm Employment, December 2013 to January 2014

Over the 12 months ending in January 2014, Georgia’s employment growth continues to outpace the nation as a whole, but it is falling behind other southeastern states. A similar story is unfolding for the Atlanta metro area when compared to other selected large southeastern metro areas.

Chart 3. Percentage Increase in Nonfarm Employment, January 2013 to January 2014, for Selected Southeastern States and the United States, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Chart 4. Percentage Increase in Nonfarm Employment, January 2013 to January 2014, for Selected Southeastern Metro Areas, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Despite recent gains over the past two years, Georgia is still below the nonfarm employment numbers recorded before the start of the Great Recession, as are other southeastern states, and the United States as a whole.

Chart 5. Percentage Declines in Nonfarm Employment for Selected Southeastern States and the United States, December 2007 to December 2013, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Email comments to michaelwald50@gmail.com