Atlanta Jobs Report

The global economic slowdown has drug the US economy into a recession.  This recession has had widespread negative effects, especially on US employment figures over the past couple of years.  The Atlanta area has been home to companies like Delta Airlines, BellSouth Corp., and Home Depot Inc.  All three of which have taken hold nationwide and provide a stable employment base for the Atlanta area.  There are also numerous colleges and universities in and around Atlanta, which account for the robust number of education-related jobs that have helped, keep Atlanta out of the economic doldrums in many ways.  In fact, Atlanta ranks fifth worst in the nation for job losses, where the employment market has contracted a further 7% since the beginning of the recession.  That means that roughly one in every 13 positions was lost.

Atlanta’s employment outlook has really been hurt by the sagging US economy.  The housing and construction sectors have taken huge hits and have helped keep Georgia well above average when it comes to its unemployment rate.  But new promises lurk in the biotech and technology fields.  Many smaller biotech startup firms are centered in the Atlanta area and many economists believe that the local economy would do very well to help foster growth in these sectors over the next few years, even as other, more traditional employment sectors fade.

Even more important to the economic and employment health of the Atlanta area are government jobs.  In 2004 alone there were nearly 300,000 government and government-related jobs in the Atlanta area.  This is more than both the financial services and construction services job sectors combined.  The transportation industry, centered around the city’s largest employer, Delta Airlines, accounts for nearly half a million jobs in the area.  The airline industry has not been doing so well on a nation scale, and Delta has bore the brunt of much of the economic storm in recent years.

Wal Mart’s headquarters in nearby Bentonville, Arkansas have given surrounding states and cities like Atlanta a boost in recent years.  Although this boost has begun to wane as even Wal Mart cannot escape the wrath of the souring US economy.  Atlanta has a long ways to go if it is to stay afloat in today’s economic recession.  The US city has long been able to feed off of the publicity and economic success of the 1996 Olympics held here, but recently even the best laid plans and the most lucrative of financial opportunities have been unable to keep Atlanta out of the heat of the recession. 

Besides loosing tens of thousands of jobs in the construction sector, the manufacturing sector has taken quite a hit.  Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta, has had to make cuts to its workforce to survive the economic downturn.  This once vibrant brand is now tightening its belt, and much of Atlanta is feeling the pinch.  This is not happening in Atlanta alone, Coca-Cola has cut thousands of jobs worldwide since 2007, and there is fear that more people will lose their jobs if a recovery does not appear soon.