Economics

Last week, I compared the labor market in Augusta to other metro areas in Georgia. However, two counties in the August metro area are in South Carolina (Aiken and Edgefield), so how does Augusta stack up against South Carolina cities? Like Georgia, the fastest-growing labor markets in South Carolina are on the coast. The Labor Market Index (LMI) for Charleston grew at 2.5 percent over the last year and by a whopping 4.7 percent in Myrtle Beach. (The fastest growth in Georgia was Savannah at 3.6 percent). Over the past

Data through the first quarter of 2022 suggests that the Georgia economy remains strong. The Labor Market Index (LMI) for Georgia increased by 2.4 percent in March 2022 from March 2021. The corresponding number for the fourth quarter of 2021 was 2.2 percent. Savannah saw the largest year-on-year increase at 3.6 percent. All metro areas, except Hinesville, saw improved labor market conditions in the first quarter of 2022. The LMI for Augusta increased by 0.8 percent. Employment has increased by 2,300 over the last year and the unemployment rate has

The past couple of years has been a nightmare for trucking companies, especially the smaller outfits like Jax Transportation in Aiken. “Our business dropped off 87 percent when covid shut down everything, owner Dean Cavero said. “It was a fiasco when goods weren’t moving. It took six months for us to see any relief.” He also owns Phoenix One Logistics which oversees the heavy haul logistics for Jax. But there wasn’t much hauling going on at that time. Now that the trucks are rolling again comes a new set of