Consumer Stories

Publisher’s Note: Last week, ABD shared details about multi-million dollar improvements coming to the Doubletree, Augusta Marriott, and a re-imagined Ramada Hotel—which is a Marriott boutique hotel. The numbers bear out how extra employees and business may be leading to the growth. Overall employment in 2025 for the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area increased by 2,900 and ended the year at 249,800. The local hospitality industry was a HUGE factor. This represents a 1.2 percent increase in employment. By contrast, US employment only increased at 0.4 percent, and Georgia employment increased

Diversity has become a bit of a dirty word recently, but economic and management research suggests there are benefits to diversity in team settings. True diversity, which goes beyond race or gender, and includes diversity of skills, experience, abilities, and thought, may increase team performance. However, diversity may result in lower group cohesion and increased conflict. These conflicting benefits and costs of diversity mean that the overall relationship of diversity on team performance may be positive or negative. In a recently published paper, I and Dinesh Hasija from the Hull

The next generation of airport employees in the CSRA may just come from area high schools. A new internship is introducing high school students to a diverse number of career opportunities at Augusta Regional Airport. Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) and the Richmond County Board of Education (RCBOE) have announced AIR EDU. Lauren Smith, Assistant Director of Marketing and Public Relations, said the goal is to address a growing workforce shortage in operations, maintenance, air traffic controllers, and airport management. The forecast is that the industry will need more than two