It’s fitting that we Americans honor the deep dignity of work each Labor Day weekend. For all our many differences as a people these days, the great majority of us still revere the value of honest toil.
That veneration of work — and the shared and individual prosperity it brings — is a pillar of our value system. Thus, phrases like “self-reliant” and “hard-working” are commonly heard accolades in our conversations across backyard fences and in community spaces.
All of which makes Labor Day a treasured part of being an American. So we should enjoy this long weekend for what it is — a time to hopefully catch some rest and also take stock of each of our own roles in making this country go.
More importantly, we should recognize that we’re doing better these days, both in Georgia and the other 49 states. That’s a hard fact, even in this current day of discordance and tumult on multiple fronts.
Yes, the economic recovery is still herky-jerky at this point. Yet, it is undeniably still present. Just ask 113,200 Georgians. That’s how many additional jobs were counted here last July than in July 2012, according to the Georgia Department of Labor. Closer to home, the Atlanta metro added 72,000 jobs during this same period.
It’s true that the state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate has bounced both ways in the last year. Still, the July unemployment rate of 8.8 percent is lower than the 9.1 percent of July 2012. And that is worth celebrating a bit as Georgians enjoy the well-deserved fruits of their labor this weekend.
It’s also noteworthy that the Atlanta metro and Georgia continue notable efforts to both bring new jobs here, and buttress those already in our midst. It’s a competitive advantage for us that optimism is in our nature, across good times and bad. We don’t give up the good fight. And we’ve reaped a great harvest as a result.
In a latest win, last week state officials announced carpetmaker Shaw Industries Group Inc. plans to build a new plant in Bartow County that’s expected to create 500 jobs. There’s more to be done, yes, but we’re seeing results from current work, too.
To gain greater insight into our region and state’s job-creation efforts, we asked the experts below to assess both what Georgia is doing well in this regard and where we need to step up our game to yield even better results.
Building on these efforts will hopefully mean more Georgians will be counted among workers’ ranks by Labor Day 2014. That’s a goal worth working towards.
