One look at the numbers will tell you that offshoring and other factors have taken a toll on Georgia manufacturing.
Manufacturing jobs in Georgia peaked in December 1998 at 551,400, according to Georgia Department of Labor statistics. Since then, it's been a steady decline; the number of manufacturing jobs in September 2006 was 450,000.
"There's been a loss of over 100,000 manufacturing jobs in the last eight years. Whether from offshoring, outsourcing, foreign trade competition or automation, manufacturing has been the industry most severely impacted," said John Lawrence, assistant director of work force information and analysis at the Labor Department.
The news is not all bleak, however. "Georgia's population is growing faster than the national average, as is our job growth. We're an importer of workers and businesses. I think Georgia is dealing with it better than many states," Lawrence said.
"It" is the balance sheet of jobs gained and lost while competing in a global economy.
"We've been building on the internationalization of our economy since the 1996 Olympics, and we're working to position ourselves as the right place to do business -- whether it's helping local companies to expand or attracting international investment to the state," said Chris Clark, deputy commissioner, Georgia Department of Economic Development.
The department took a proactive stance to reach out to Georgia employers in 1997.
"We started a pilot project to establish offices around the state to call on industries that were planning to lay off workers or expand operations," Clark said. "Last year, our 10-member staff called on 1,600 Georgia companies to tell them about state resources and offer our help."
One of the department's best tools is the Existing Industry Expansion and Tax Credit Bonus bill introduced by Gov. Sonny Perdue and passed in 2005, which offers tax advantages to companies that add workers to the payrolls. Others are Georgia's Quick Start program, Perdue's Centers of Innovation and the state's 34 technical colleges, all of which help train or retrain workers with 21st-century skills.
In fiscal year 2005-06, the department announced 254 new projects that would add jobs to the state. Of those, 113 were expansions of existing industries, which accounted for about half of the new jobs in the state. About 28 percent of those 254 projects brought direct foreign investment into the state.
Other new jobs come from what Clark calls "home-shoring." As national and international companies continue to outsource jobs, Clark's strategy is to bring a share of those jobs to Georgia.
A recent success: In October, ADP Inc., a global business-solutions provider, announced plans to build a business-solutions center in Augusta, investing more than $30 million and creating 1,000 new jobs.
The Department of Economic Development also hosts an international trade team, with representatives in nine offices around the world.
"That team has three jobs: to attract tourists to the state, to increase foreign investment to Georgia and to help our companies locate new markets for their products and do business abroad," Clark said.
In fiscal year 2005-06, the office generated 501 business leads and helped 54 Georgia companies complete 116 trade deals with 40 countries.
In the last three years, Georgia has gained more jobs than it has lost, but that's hardly comforting to the person who has lost his or her job and sees no comparable replacement, Lawrence said. The Labor Department helps those workers with counseling, workers' compensation, services and job training through its Rapid Response teams and One-Stop Career Centers.
At the same time, the Department of Economic Development is helping existing industries -- such as manufacturing, agriculture and aviation -- to become more innovative and is enticing new industries to Georgian soil.
Georgia is up 92,000 jobs since December 2000, and the average job wages in Georgia have increased every year since 2000, Lawrence said.
"In a global economy, the jobs are going to go where it makes the most sense -- like it is cheaper for Kia to design and build cars for the American market in this country," Clark said. "What we want to do is promote Georgia as the right place to do business. We're in a good position to appeal to international companies because of our infrastructure [the international airport and port in Savannah], skilled work force and quality of life."