The economic news is mixed in Aiken County for 2025. The North Augusta Chamber of Commerce wrapped up its 2024 Power Lunch series with the annual economic report.
Dr. Nancy Albers, Dean of the School of Business Administration, was the keynote speaker. Albers spoke specifically about where Aiken County stands and where it may be headed.
While versed in reviewing economic analysis, Albers said she is not an economic analyst. So, she turned to Dr. Fadi Fawaz, an Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Tennessee State University.
“For his report, he relies on the 2023 full-year data, and then what has happened in 2024 to help us protect for 2025,” she explained. “Things have happened in that time period that doesn’t get captured in an economic outlook report, like the hurricane that hit this region. So, I want us to keep this all in mind as we’re going through this and know that when we’re dealing with economic analysis data, it’s challenging for us to understand and to apply.”
Albers said, while the data collected gives a snapshot of what may be expected in 2025, it was missing two key factors. The first, the negative impact of Hurricane Helene, may be offset by the second, the announcement Meta is building an $800 million data center in the Sage Mill Industrial Park.
Breaking down the inflation numbers, Albers said the report found an increase between 5% and 6% in food, housing costs increased between 7% and 8%, and the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment increased to $1,200 and $1,400, marking a jump of 6% to 8%.
Wages were an area of concern. In the short term, wage growth was 3.5%, which did not keep pace with the national inflation rate, which also played out over a longer period.
“Wages year over year, so over a longer period of time, we have sustained an increase of 15% in wages,” she said. “However, inflation was 18% which means our wage growth is lagging behind inflation, which means, in simple terms, people have less discretionary money to spend. They’re having to spend more of their income on covering baseline necessities instead of being able to buy things that may be considered more of a luxury.”
Albers said the report did have several positives for Aiken County.
Industries remained strong, including manufacturing, healthcare, education, and professional services. Inflation has started to decrease and, overall, the county has a cost of living lower than the national average.
“We’re lucky, because in the big national scheme of things, our area home prices are still pretty appealing, because we have a low cost of living in this area,” she said. “And we know people who live in very expensive areas of the country look at us and go, ‘Wow, that’s a great price per house.’ So, we are attracting people from outside the region to come in, because compared to where they are right now, we’re very appealing.”
Albers said she used the area’s lower cost of living to attract a recent job applicant to move from New York to Aiken County.
“She was talking about what a huge reduction in pay that was going to be, and I asked her to go compare tax rates and just figure out how much are you paying in state tax compared to what you’re going to pay in state tax here. And she took the job,” said Albers. “I really kind of wrote out a checklist of things that I tell them to go look at and compare. And they often find out that actually, even though it’s lower salary, it’s actually higher discretionary income.”
Another strength was the specialized manufacturing that exists in Aiken County combined with the expectation that will continue to grow. In turn, that will mean steady employment growing by about 2.5% annually.
That does, however, point to a challenge that must be addressed. The report anticipates a continued labor shortage, particularly in healthcare and skilled labor. Albers said institutions of higher education are working to meet the challenge.
“So, as we produce more nurses and more doctors and more skilled labor in the region that helps everything with the workforce,” said Albers. “So, the next 10 years are important sectors for training. Individuals are going to be in education, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services,” said Albers.
However, students in Aiken County can begin their training to join the workforce while still in high school at the district’s Career and Technology Center (CTC).
Alvina Jackson is a Career and Technical Education Program Specialist with CTC.
“I help to bridge the gap between the workforce and education. The information that was presented today is very valuable as it helps me to understand the needs of our employers in our local workforce,” she told ABD. “Then to take this information back into the educational system so that we can continue to prepare our students to earn industry certifications, so that when they have graduated from high school, they’re ready to go to work into one of our local corporations, organizations, either in this community or in the region.”
Jackson said they also have an outreach program, trying to connect with local businesses and industries.
“We go out to the employers, and we look for opportunities to build partnerships with those employers, such as SRS, MTU (Motor and Turbine Union of Rolls Royce), Kimberly Clark,” she said. “In healthcare and other education sectors, we have partnerships with Aiken Tech, Augusta Tech, USC Aiken, where we go to them and show the things that we’re doing with our students at the Aiken County Career and Technology Center.”
Kenneth Lott, principal at CTC, said any company interested in what the school can provide can contact him at KLott@acpsd.net.
