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Economics
B2B Stories

Simon Says: Our strong labor market

In a stunning victory last Tuesday night, Ruben Amorim’s Sporting Lisbon trounced Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 4-1. Now, the hard work begins as Amorim tries to rejuvenate a moribund Manchester United. In other news, the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Labor Market Index (LMI) increased by 0.3 percent in September from August. It is 1.0 percent higher than September 2023. As I reported last week, employment and nominal average weekly earnings hit record levels in September. Additionally, the labor force expanded, and the average hours worked increased. The only component

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Dr. Simon Medcalfe November 11, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Breaking down the potential impact of tariffs

A hallmark of President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection campaign was a proposed increase in tariffs on goods coming into the United States. He proposed an increase of 10% to 20% on all foreign countries, with an additional 60% to 100% tariff on imported products from China. The National Retail Federation (NRF) commissioned a study to determine how increased tariffs will impact the cost of imported goods in six categories: Clothing, footwear, toys, furniture, household appliances, and travel goods. The study found that American consumers could lose between $46 billion and $78

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Staff Report November 11, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

CSRA company partners with leading distributor

Hoover Treated Wood Products, based in Thomson, is strengthening its footprint in the Southeast through an expanded partnership with Boise Cascade. This agreement positions Hoover’s fire-retardant wood products at Boise Cascade branches across the Southeast, bolstering both companies’ leadership in building materials. Hoover, the world’s leading manufacturer of Fire-Retardant Treated Wood (FRTW) products, has strengthened its long-established relationship with Boise Cascade, a leading manufacturer and distributor of building materials. “Boise Cascade is our premier partner for our fire and life-safety FRTW products,” said David Gillrie, President and CEO of Hoover

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Staff Report November 7, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Shop small. Win big.

More than 60 businesses and sponsors hope the Aiken Chamber’s annual Red Ticket campaign will keep local businesses in the black during the holiday shopping season. For the 4th year in a row, shoppers will receive a red ticket by visiting participating locations. For each $25 spent, you get a red ticket. Last year’s campaign topped $1.75 million in sales for local businesses. Those tickets will go into drawings each week through December 19 for cash prizes which increase each week for a total of $5,000 in cash giveaways during

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Mitzi Oxford November 6, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Shop small. Think big.

November 1 kicked off the annual holiday shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). It runs through Dec. 31. The NRF predicts retail sales growth of 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023. The North Augusta Chamber of Commerce wants shoppers to remember locally-owned businesses for holiday shopping. The Chamber launched its Fourth Annual Small Business Season to raise the profile of the unique offerings at small businesses. “Some of my most favorite memories are of celebrating the holidays and the traditions my family holds dear. Many of those revolve

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 6, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Hiring boom for construction workers

Metro Augusta will have roughly 1,300 new job openings within the next 18 to 36 months. That’s based on recent economic development announcements in Richmond and Burke Counties in Georgia and Aiken County in South Carolina. Some, including Meta in the Sage Mill Industrial Park, GF Casting Solutions in the Augusta Corporate Park, and TMC Transformers in the Burke County Industrial Park, plan to build new facilities for the approximately 500 employees the three of them will hire. “All of them have construction-related jobs,” Cal Wray, President of the Augusta

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 5, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

October economic bright spots, despite Helene

October has been a month of recovery for the CSRA. While there were piles of evidence from Helene’s bad side, many meetings and conventions went forward in the River Region as planned. Destination Augusta and the Augusta Sports Council announced that 3,065 visitors attended events that generated $2,798,000 in total estimated economic impact. Four of those meetings and conventions were held in October, the remaining four other events are upcoming between now and November 22. ABD was curious about how those numbers stack up to the same period last year.

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Mitzi Oxford November 5, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

CSRA Construction Boom!

Economic development leaders in Metro Augusta are celebrating the recent series of major companies coming to the area, creating hundreds of new jobs. While those jobs have been in the spotlight, there is a quieter, even larger, job growth bubbling just under the headlines. Augusta Business Daily spoke with Cal Wray, President of the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA), Will Williams, President and CEO of Western SC Economic Development Partnership, and Austin Stacy, Executive Director of the Development Authority of Burke County (DABC), about the thousands of jobs that will

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 4, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Simon Says: Employment and earnings up!

September saw another record month for employment in the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Employment in September increased by 900 to 248,400. Augusta has seen records broken every month since June. Education and Health Services also saw record employment in September. Employment in September increased by 350 to over 40,000 for the first time. Other sectors that saw employment increase in September were leisure and hospitality (+190), professional and business services (+180), Transportation and utilities (+80), and retail (+40). Wholesale and manufacturing employment fell. Another record fell in September, average

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Dr. Simon Medcalfe November 4, 2024 No Comments
B2B Stories

Millions in federal funds for Augusta’s airport

Georgia’s senators announced Augusta Regional Airport is one of three in line to receive money from a program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A news release from Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga) said Augusta Regional will receive $4 million from the FAA’s Airport Terminal Program (ATP). The money can be used to build and upgrade airport facilities, along with better transportation options for passengers. “Georgia’s airports are a key driver of job creation and economic competitiveness,” Ossoff was quoted in the news release. “Our bipartisan

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Dana Lynn McIntyre November 3, 2024 No Comments
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