In his “Forecast of Georgia and Atlanta,” released Aug. 27,
Rajeev Dhawan of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s
J. Mack Robinson College of Business believes that the state’s decelerating job
growth will reverse in the second half of 2015.
“As global economic health stabilizes, consumers demonstrate
a greater propensity to spend and corporate spending resumes, Peach State job
growth will accelerate to 2.6 percent for the 2015 calendar year,” Dhawan said.
The corporate sector is faring well in Georgia and Atlanta.
Statewide, the sector posted a 7.2 percent gain in the second quarter,
“pointing to momentum moving forward,” the forecaster said. Furthermore, the
move of several headquarters to Atlanta continues to result in professional and
business services hiring.
“Although this sector is enduring weaker global growth,
domestic consumption is taking up any shortfalls,” Dhawan said.
The forecaster is predicting that Georgia employment will gain
·
82,900 jobs in calendar year 2015
·
87,500 jobs in 2016
·
94,100 jobs in 2017
This would mean slower growth than in the past two years. As
a comparison using seasonally adjusted data, in 2013, the state added 95,500 jobs and in 2014 increased by an
additional 146,500 jobs.
Over the 12 months ending in July, the state has added 89,400 jobs (seasonally adjusted) as rapid growth in the first 6 months was followed by a marked
slowdown in the most recent 6-month period.
For the Atlanta metro area, Dr. Dhawan see the addition of
·
62,400 jobs in calendar year 2015
·
63,300 jobs in 2016
·
65,500 jobs in 2017
In 2013, the Atlanta metro area added 77,600 jobs and in 2014
added 97,200 jobs.
Dhawan said millennials, who constituted 23.6 percent of
metro Atlanta’s population in the 2010 census, are making their influence felt
in several regards.
“To no one’s surprise,” he said, “millennials are fueling
demand for multi-family housing. They’re also spurring area companies to
relocate to downtown and Midtown in order to draw on their high-tech skills.”
“I expect the area’s information sector to continue to
expand in coming years as it benefits from a robust fiber optic infrastructure,
relatively low-cost electricity generation and a reliable power grid,” Dhawan
said.
Attracting young, technologically savvy talent is one of the
reasons that healthcare added almost 3,500 jobs in the first half of 2015. For
the full year, this sector will add 8,100 jobs.
Although growth in the metro area’s hospitality and
transportation sectors slowed somewhat in the first half of the year, both will
benefit from the spillover of domestic demand growth in catalyst sectors
(corporate, healthcare, technology and manufacturing) for a combined total of
12,800 jobs in 2015.
