B2B Stories

The fastest-growing Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) labor market in Georgia for 2023 was Dalton, followed by Columbus and Rome. Dalton’s Labor Market Index (LMI) which includes employment, unemployment, labor force, hours worked, and average weekly earnings, increased by 2.9% in 2023. Columbus LMI grew by 2.6% and Rome by 2.3%. Augusta grew at 1.1% as did the state of Georgia as a whole. Perhaps surprisingly, some MSAs that have racked up strong growth in the last few years were less robust in 2023. Atlanta’s LMI grew by just 0.8%, Gainesville

While I am not an economist like my colleague and fellow Augusta Business Daily contributor, Dr. Simon Medcalfe, many of my family, friends, and acquaintances assume that because I am a business school faculty member and former Dean, that I am an expert on the economy. Therefore, many of them come to me with their questions related to the economy, particularly in times like these when we are getting many mixed signals and we are not sure what is good news or bad news economically anymore. For instance, in the