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Despite all the bad economic news as of lately in the Columbus area there is good news ahead the following article was published in the LE on Nov. 22, 2008
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There will be ample pain for the Columbus area as the national economy continues to contract through 2009 and job losses mount, experts say.
But the city also appears primed to rebound strongly in 2010 and 2011 as the Fort Benning work force expands and the nearby Kia auto plant feeds the regional economy.
“If I had to pick one section of Georgia that’s best situated at this point in time, it would be Columbus, Muscogee and the Chattahoochee Valley. You all have been blessed,” Michael Thurmond, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor, said in an interview Friday.
Thurmond is intimately familiar with the dire situation facing the local, state and antional economies amid a river of negative news on the financial, housing, investment and employment fronts.
Just this week, the Labor Department reported Georgia’s unemployment rate surged to a 16-year high of 7 percent in October, about a half-percent above the national rate.
The Columbus jobless rate, which consistently has been outpacing the state’s number, very well could hit 7.5 percent when local data is released this week. It was 6.9 percent in September.
Jobless rates on rise
How high the Columbus rate will rise is anybody’s guess. Thurmond said several economists have projected the state rate could climb as high as 9 percent in 2009. Double-digit rates would be excruciating and a level not seen in more than 25 years, he said.
Georgia State University’s Economic Forecasting Center, in a report last week, projected job losses will continue to pile up throughout the coming year.
The state will close 2008 with 75,000 fewer jobs, it said. There will be an additional 72,000 job losses in 2009, with nearly 50,000 of those in the first six months.
That will be followed by a modest gain of 27,800 jobs in 2010, according to the forecast. The center projected Georgia’s unemployment rate will reach 7.5 percent next year before topping out at 8 percent in 2010.
Consumer confidence — or the lack thereof — pulled the rug from under a stumbling economy as credit sources dried up, Rajeev Dhawan, director of the GSU center, wrote in the forecast. He noted the auto industry’s nosedive and that General Motors began requiring credit scores of at least 700 to lease a car.
“Under this criteria, half the population in the nation will fail to qualify for a loan from GMAC,” Dhawan said. “No wonder Bill Heard’s Chevrolet dealership empire in Atlanta collapsed overnight, resulting from GMAC’s decisions to cut off credit lines.”
Columbus-based Bill Heard Enterprises shut down its auto business in September, filing for bankruptcy protection because of plunging sales and its lack of a financing source. Locally, 375 people were thrown out of work, with another 600 at four Georgia dealerships.
Businesses made cuts
Those aren’t the only hits the Columbus work force has taken this year. Battery maker Panasonic eliminated 214 positions in February, while hair care products company Goody cut 52 in August.
In September, the city’s financial sector was jolted. GreenPoint Mortgage, a Capitol One operation, said it was closing its Columbus office by the end of this year, with 200 workers getting pink slips. Banking firm Synovus Financial Corp. said it would be slashing 230 jobs by the end of this year.
Synovus spokesman Greg Hudgison said Friday the layoffs remain on track, although the jobs will be phased out through June.
Local employers also appear to be cutting back on hires as the year comes to an end, a quick check of their Web sites indicates.
Credit-card processor TSYS had only 15 positions listed on its career page, while Columbus Regional Healthcare System did not have any listings.
Another major employer, Muscogee County School District, listed seven jobs; BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia, a WellPoint company, had two job listings for Columbus.
Meanwhile, supplemental insurer Aflac had 31 corporate job listings on its site. The Fortune 500 company in 2005 said an expansion would boost its local work force by 2,000 within five years.
On Friday, Aflac spokeswoman Laura Kane said the staffing push is on track. But she conceded the company is tapping its hiring brakes as the overall economy and business slows. The company made 200 to 250 hires for new positions this year, she said, and expects that to be between 100 and 150 next year.The forecasting center at Georgia State predicts Columbus will experience a 1.6 percent decline in its overall work force in 2009. The city’s employment base has fallen from nearly 126,000 eight years ago to about 121,000 by the end of this year. Much of that decline was from the loss of textile mill jobs.
Once 2009 is in the city’s rearview mirror, however, the rebuilding should begin.
Kia, BRAC to help
The Kia auto plant in West Point, Ga., about 45 minutes north of Columbus, is to open in late 2009 and should be ramping up production in 2010. The factory will employ 2,500, while supplier firms will push the local auto industry’s payroll figure beyond 6,000.
The biggest splash, however, will come in July 2010. That’s when the bulk of soldiers and civilians will begin to arrive at Fort Benning to staff the Maneuver Center for Excellence, which was mandated by the congressional Base Realignment and Closure process.
When that buildup is complete in September 2011, there will be 11,400 more workers at Fort Benning, said Gary Jones, senior vice president of military affairs and economic development at the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
The work force surge includes 4,700 soldiers, nearly 1,900 U.S. Department of the Army civilians and 4,800 defense contracting positions, he said. Jobs will include instructing, working ranges, developing doctrine, plumbing, electrician work and carpentry.
Some of those jobs will be filled by workers transferring from the U.S. Army Armor School at Fort Knox, Ky., which is blending with the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning to create the Maneuver Center.
The Fort Knox staffers have until mid-January to make their decision on a move south. Any jobs not filled by transfers are fair game for local residents or anyone else who wants to relocate here for work.
So, it’s going to take another year or more of economic pain before the area cashes in on its employment gains, said Thurmond, who predicts a large number of people will be moving to Columbus from across Georgia in search of a paycheck.
In the meantime, he said, preparation is the key. That’s why the labor commissioner preaches incessantly about workers retraining for that next career.
“We know that there will be a huge increase in the number of jobs being created in Columbus in 18 months. We know it. It’s already cooked into the books,” he said. “What you have to do, if you’re unemployed or even underemployed, is prepare yourself for the coming economic expansion.”
But the city also appears primed to rebound strongly in 2010 and 2011 as the Fort Benning work force expands and the nearby Kia auto plant feeds the regional economy.
“If I had to pick one section of Georgia that’s best situated at this point in time, it would be Columbus, Muscogee and the Chattahoochee Valley. You all have been blessed,” Michael Thurmond, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor, said in an interview Friday.
Thurmond is intimately familiar with the dire situation facing the local, state and antional economies amid a river of negative news on the financial, housing, investment and employment fronts.
Just this week, the Labor Department reported Georgia’s unemployment rate surged to a 16-year high of 7 percent in October, about a half-percent above the national rate.
The Columbus jobless rate, which consistently has been outpacing the state’s number, very well could hit 7.5 percent when local data is released this week. It was 6.9 percent in September.
Jobless rates on rise
How high the Columbus rate will rise is anybody’s guess. Thurmond said several economists have projected the state rate could climb as high as 9 percent in 2009. Double-digit rates would be excruciating and a level not seen in more than 25 years, he said.
Georgia State University’s Economic Forecasting Center, in a report last week, projected job losses will continue to pile up throughout the coming year.
The state will close 2008 with 75,000 fewer jobs, it said. There will be an additional 72,000 job losses in 2009, with nearly 50,000 of those in the first six months.
That will be followed by a modest gain of 27,800 jobs in 2010, according to the forecast. The center projected Georgia’s unemployment rate will reach 7.5 percent next year before topping out at 8 percent in 2010.
Consumer confidence — or the lack thereof — pulled the rug from under a stumbling economy as credit sources dried up, Rajeev Dhawan, director of the GSU center, wrote in the forecast. He noted the auto industry’s nosedive and that General Motors began requiring credit scores of at least 700 to lease a car.
“Under this criteria, half the population in the nation will fail to qualify for a loan from GMAC,” Dhawan said. “No wonder Bill Heard’s Chevrolet dealership empire in Atlanta collapsed overnight, resulting from GMAC’s decisions to cut off credit lines.”
Columbus-based Bill Heard Enterprises shut down its auto business in September, filing for bankruptcy protection because of plunging sales and its lack of a financing source. Locally, 375 people were thrown out of work, with another 600 at four Georgia dealerships.
Businesses made cuts
Those aren’t the only hits the Columbus work force has taken this year. Battery maker Panasonic eliminated 214 positions in February, while hair care products company Goody cut 52 in August.
In September, the city’s financial sector was jolted. GreenPoint Mortgage, a Capitol One operation, said it was closing its Columbus office by the end of this year, with 200 workers getting pink slips. Banking firm Synovus Financial Corp. said it would be slashing 230 jobs by the end of this year.
Synovus spokesman Greg Hudgison said Friday the layoffs remain on track, although the jobs will be phased out through June.
Local employers also appear to be cutting back on hires as the year comes to an end, a quick check of their Web sites indicates.
Credit-card processor TSYS had only 15 positions listed on its career page, while Columbus Regional Healthcare System did not have any listings.
Another major employer, Muscogee County School District, listed seven jobs; BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia, a WellPoint company, had two job listings for Columbus.
Meanwhile, supplemental insurer Aflac had 31 corporate job listings on its site. The Fortune 500 company in 2005 said an expansion would boost its local work force by 2,000 within five years.
On Friday, Aflac spokeswoman Laura Kane said the staffing push is on track. But she conceded the company is tapping its hiring brakes as the overall economy and business slows. The company made 200 to 250 hires for new positions this year, she said, and expects that to be between 100 and 150 next year.The forecasting center at Georgia State predicts Columbus will experience a 1.6 percent decline in its overall work force in 2009. The city’s employment base has fallen from nearly 126,000 eight years ago to about 121,000 by the end of this year. Much of that decline was from the loss of textile mill jobs.
Once 2009 is in the city’s rearview mirror, however, the rebuilding should begin.
Kia, BRAC to help
The Kia auto plant in West Point, Ga., about 45 minutes north of Columbus, is to open in late 2009 and should be ramping up production in 2010. The factory will employ 2,500, while supplier firms will push the local auto industry’s payroll figure beyond 6,000.
The biggest splash, however, will come in July 2010. That’s when the bulk of soldiers and civilians will begin to arrive at Fort Benning to staff the Maneuver Center for Excellence, which was mandated by the congressional Base Realignment and Closure process.
When that buildup is complete in September 2011, there will be 11,400 more workers at Fort Benning, said Gary Jones, senior vice president of military affairs and economic development at the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
The work force surge includes 4,700 soldiers, nearly 1,900 U.S. Department of the Army civilians and 4,800 defense contracting positions, he said. Jobs will include instructing, working ranges, developing doctrine, plumbing, electrician work and carpentry.
Some of those jobs will be filled by workers transferring from the U.S. Army Armor School at Fort Knox, Ky., which is blending with the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning to create the Maneuver Center.
The Fort Knox staffers have until mid-January to make their decision on a move south. Any jobs not filled by transfers are fair game for local residents or anyone else who wants to relocate here for work.
So, it’s going to take another year or more of economic pain before the area cashes in on its employment gains, said Thurmond, who predicts a large number of people will be moving to Columbus from across Georgia in search of a paycheck.
In the meantime, he said, preparation is the key. That’s why the labor commissioner preaches incessantly about workers retraining for that next career.
“We know that there will be a huge increase in the number of jobs being created in Columbus in 18 months. We know it. It’s already cooked into the books,” he said. “What you have to do, if you’re unemployed or even underemployed, is prepare yourself for the coming economic expansion.”
