Two months after the topic was addressed by Economics Professor, Dr. Simon Medcalfe at the ABD Business EXPO, the answer is still complicated. The numbers and data are still up and down depending on where you are looking in the CSRA.
This is an important week for teams in Major League Baseball (MLB). On August 1 at 6:00 pm, MLB will reach its “trade deadline.” The trade deadline is the last time this baseball season that teams can make trades for players from other teams. Therefore, during the next week, teams have the final opportunity to acquire talent (“buyers”) to improve their team for this season as they chase a championship or attempt to trade short-term valuable assets (“sellers”) for assets they believe will help them have success in future seasons,
Last week, I reported record-high employment numbers in the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area for the leisure and hospitality industry. Total employment is also nearing a record high, standing currently (May) at 246,100. The record high is 246, 500 in January 2020. Unfortunately, some other measures of the strength of the labor market are not as robust. After spending the whole of 2022 at 3.5%, the unemployment rate started to rise in 2023. It currently stands at 3.8%, still low by historical standards. Part of the reason for the increase may
As ABD recently reported, a potential strike against the UPS delivery service by more than 300,000 workers could lead to slower delivery times, supply chain disruptions, and higher shipping costs if the company and the Teamsters union don’t come to an agreement by August 1. Should CSRA businesses be concerned? UPS delivers millions of packages every day. Recent reports indicate that its competitors like FedEx, USPS, DHL, and others have admitted they will not be able to absorb that amount of business deliveries if UPS workers walk off the job.
Last week, CNBC released the 2023 edition of its annual “America’s Top States for Business.” As Georgians, we should be proud that our state ranked fourth, behind only North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee (South Carolinians, you are a respectable #27). CNBC’s methodology utilizes a variety of quantitative measures to evaluate each state in the following areas: Workforce; Infrastructure; Economy; Life, Health, & Inclusion; Cost of Doing Business; Technology and Innovation; Business Friendliness; Education; Access to Capital; and Cost of Living. Georgia particularly distinguishes itself in Infrastructure (#1 in the country
The labor market nationally seems to be softening. On July 6th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that the number of job openings decreased to 9.8 million on the last day of May. Job openings have been declining since May 2022 (see graph below). The next day, the BLS announced that payroll employment increased by 209,000 in June, however, this is a slowdown on previous months. Locally, after four months of declining payroll employment, we have seen employment increase over the last two months. Employment has increased from 241,600
U.S. News and World Report recently announced the best places to live for 2023-2024. According to their list, Green Bay, Wis. is the best, followed by Huntsville Ala., and Raleigh & Durham, N.C. Augusta, GA. made the list at #74. Other Georgia places included Savannah at #37 and Atlanta (#64). In South Carolina, Myrtle Beach (#18), Greenville (#31), Spartanburg (#43), Charleston, (#53), and Columbia (#92) made the top 100. Two colleagues and I have just published a paper measuring whether these kinds of rankings matter to people when deciding where
Join us as we take a look back at the real estate panel discussion from ABD’s Conference and Expo in May. Nancy Powell, CEO and Broker of Powell & Associates, Inc., provides some numbers about the housing market in today’s day and age. She says that because people won’t see extremely low-interest rates in this economy, it will take innovation and new ideas to address the housing shortage.
We’ve come a long way since 2020 and Augusta’s doing well. We’re taking a look back at the economic panel discussion from ABD’s Conference and Expo in May, in which Derek May, President of Azalea Investments, speaks about key economic indicators that show how the business world has pulled through.
When experts speak about the economic outlook, the news is often grim. But according to one economist, there are many reasons to be optimistic about future growth in the U.S. economy. While many predicted a recession in 2023, Dr. David Altig, Executive Vice President and Director of Research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said there’s currently little evidence to support that prediction. Yesterday, Altig served as the keynote speaker for Augusta Technical College’s third annual Mid-Year Economic Outlook. “The U.S. economy is much stronger than we predicted, and
