Georgia recruits businesses -- and hope

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Roughly 275 companies either relocated to or expanded in Georgia the last fiscal year, which led to more than 16,600 new jobs, according to statistics released Wednesday by the state’s economic development agency.

For a state with persistently high unemployment – 10.4 percent in April, higher than the national average – Georgia would’ve been in far worse economic shape without the $3.4 billion invested by those companies.

A year earlier, during the depths of the recession, companies invested $2.3 billion in Georgia and created 13,510 jobs during the same time period.

Final fiscal year 2010 results won’t be released until mid-July. But Ken Stewart, outgoing economic development commissioner, lauded the near-complete numbers Wednesday during a round table discussion in Midtown with his counterparts from the Atlanta and Georgia chambers of commerce.

“The economy has been tough the last couple of years. There’s no surprise about that,” Stewart said during the discussion at the Centergy Building. “But we’ve got the right environment for growth. And our [recruitment] pipeline looks good.”

Stewart, Sam Williams (Metro Atlanta Chamber) and George Israel (Georgia Chamber) ticked off some high-profile relocations within the last year that have cushioned the state’s economic slide. NCR, for example, added hundreds of jobs in Duluth, Peachtree City and Columbus. Mitsubishi Power Systems promises 500 jobs outside Savannah.

General Electric expects to hire 400 high-tech workers in Cobb County. Pilgrim’s Pride will re-open a chicken-plucking plant in Coffee County and hire 1,000 people.

And the diversity of new business -- Fortune 500 companies, data centers, factories, renewable energy labs –- bodes well for the employment needs of Georgia’s urban-rural population.

In addition, business recruiters lauded the General Assembly for passing transportation, water conservation and school reform legislation the last session. They also defended the millions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives given new or expanding companies as necessary inducements to attract tax-paying corporations and employees.

“I remember the Southern expression: The uglier the bride, the bigger the dowry. Some states are passing $500-million incentives funds,” Williams said. “But we’re not anywhere near the incentives our competitors issue and our incentives have been very targeted. We look at specific industries like entertainment, where the payback is very big.”

Wednesday’s economic development update, a perennial affair, will be the last for Stewart and Israel. Stewart will join Georgia Tech as a senior advisor for industry strategy. Israel said he’ll quit the Georgia Chamber this fall for other undisclosed challenges.

“In spite of the economy,” Israel said, “it’s been a good year for business in Georgia.”