Job seekers waiting for a hiring recovery will have to wait awhile longer. Georgia’s unemployment rate rose to 10.1 percent in July -- the same number it was a year ago.
A lack of confidence in the world economy is keeping many companies from hiring -- but not all. There are some bright spots.
“Educational and health services is one sector that has weathered the recession storm,” said Mark Watson, a labor market analyst for the Georgia Department of Labor.
The sector grew from 458,700 jobs in 2007 to 486,100 in 2010.
“It’s seen continuous growth, primarily from the subsector of health care and social assistance, which includes hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities,” Watson said. “We’ve told people that they can’t go wrong with careers in health care or education, and we still hold to that advice.”
Tennille Hall, a vice president with Ajilon, a staffing and recruiting firm with offices in Atlanta, said her agency is “seeing hospitals move to electronic medical records and add to their IT, medical billing, and coding and collections staffs.”
Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development, calls health care "a driving force in Georgia's economy."
“Because of McKesson and other companies, we’re becoming a national leader in health care information technology,” he said.
Manufacturing has been more of a surprise. It saw sharp decreases, layoffs and closures at the beginning of the recession. But that has changed over the past year, Watson said, with manufacturing employment growing in 12 of the past 16 months. An increase of 1,400 jobs in July was the first increase in manufacturing jobs in July in 18 years.
“These are not your grandfather’s manufacturing jobs," Watson said. "They are technical, highly skilled advance manufacturing jobs, but fortunately our Georgia Technical College System has the programs to train or retrain workers.”
KIA, Toyo Tires, Gulfstream and Pratt & Whitney are just a few of the manufacturers expanding in Georgia.
Cummiskey said Georgia has many advantages in attracting new manufacturers, including a pro-business, non-union environment, a skilled workforce and an excellent logistics system with ports, major highways and the nation’s busiest airport.
Tourism/hospitality, Georgia's second-largest industry, is also picking up. That sector added 5,000 jobs from June 2010 to June 2011, for a total of 388,100, Watson said.
“We’re seeing more restaurants hire more entry-level professionals, managers and back office accounting and payroll positions," Hall said. "We’re seeing midlevel positions come back there, and that’s good news for recent college grads.”
The state has focused on increasing international visitors.
“People fly into Atlanta from all over the world,” Cummiskey said, “and we’ve been encouraging them to stay a few days with us by getting ‘Brand Georgia’ before more tour operators and meeting planners. We’re now the fastest-growing place for international tourism.”
With battlefields, museums and historic sites across the state, Cummiskey predicts tourism dollars will increase with the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which begins this year. “Heritage or historic-related tourism is the largest segment of the tourism market,” he said.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce have been meeting with business and industry leaders across the state as part of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Georgia Competitiveness Initiative.
“We know we’re competitive," Cummiskey said. "We’re ranked eighth in Forbes Best States for Business list [2010], but we’re looking at our strengths and weaknesses to see where we can improve.”
Hall sees promising signs in her staffing of accounting, financial, marketing, executive administrative and human resources professional positions.
“The news has been all doom and gloom," she said, "but we’re ending the summer by seeing companies return to direct hires and add to their teams.”
Hall said companies are looking to the future and are getting more creative with their hires.
“It’s a good time for workers to get their foot in the door and show what they can do,” she said.
Georgia’s professional and business services sector is showing new signs of life. It accounted for 536,000 jobs in April, which was its highest monthly figure since December 2008, Watson said.
“Companies are increasing administrative staffs, and they wouldn’t be doing that unless they are planning to add more revenue-producing workers," Hall said. "It’s a good sign.”
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