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June 2009 U.S. unemployment rate: 9.5 percent

July 2009 U.S. unemployment rate: 9.4 percent

Number of months, before July 2009, since the U.S. saw a decrease in unemployment: 16

Number of points by which the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased immediately following the release of the new unemployment data: 142

Average U.S. weekly income, June 2009: $609.37

Average U.S. weekly income, July 2009: $614.34

Last month’s unemployment rate in Georgia: 10.1 percent

Jobs lost in Georgia since around this time last year: 209,500

Increase in Georgia jobs in health care and educational services, according to the most recent statistics: 12,000

Sources: AJC.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington Post

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The Atlanta Regional Commission says metro Atlanta will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace than it enjoyed during the 1990s. Nonetheless, expect to call approximately three million more people neighbors by 2040.

In its latest monthly forecast, which is basically like Christmas for a fact-loving pagan wonk like myself, the commission’s researchers say:

slower growth in population and employment is likely to be the norm across the country, as well as in the Atlanta region. Many of the factors affecting metro Atlanta are nationwide phenomena. For example, the average family continues to shrink, including those of second and third-generation immigrants. Combine fewer births with the decrease in the number of baby boomers over the next 30 years, and it’s clear that natural attrition will play a large part in moderating the Atlanta Region’s growth.

By that time, its residents will also be a lot older and younger, too — which will mean fewer people to fill available jobs.

(more…)

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Number of Chrysler dealerships targeted for elimination nationwide by June 9: 789

Number of GM dealerships estimated to be eliminated nationwide by late 2010: 1,110

Chrysler dealerships set to close in metro Atlanta: 3

Chrysler’s net loss in 2008: $16.8 million

Amount Chrysler has received in federal loans: $4 million

Estimated minimum number of job losses as a result of GM and Chrysler cuts: 100,000

Estimated number of jobs that will be created at a new Kia parts plant in West Georgia: 7,500

Rank of Chrysler among 17 major automakers when it comes to the fuel economy of its 2009 line of passenger vehicles: 13

Rank of Kia: 3

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WSB-TV, NBC-Augusta, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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The Georgia Judicial Nomination Commission is accepting nominations to replace state Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who is retiring in June to become the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice and legalize marijuana practice law in Chicago.

Nominees will receive a questionnaire that must be returned by June 22. The commission will meet on June 29 to interview nominees. The commission will select five qualified candidates. A list of those selected will be sent to Gov. Sonny Perdue. He is expected to ignore the short-list and instead appoint the Honorable Judge  Joseph Wapner.

If you’re really interested in applying for this, send me a line and I’ll forward you the info from Perdue’s office. If you have your own connections, well then, good luck!

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Those nifty contrarians at Slate, God bless ‘em, have gone through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and made a fun and depressing animation of a heady few months of job gains followed by a blood-red pattern of job loss. The animation, which covers January 2007 to February 2009, provides some much-needed context to the headlines and numbers we’ve seen thrown about.

It’s interesting to watch how metropolitan regions went from blue to red. Not surprising, sure, as this is where the bulk of people live. But notice the areas where jobs grew. I heard an interesting rumor while reporting for the Green Guide that laid-off workers in Florida’s manufacturing industry were migrating north into south Georgia to look for jobs. You don’t see much of that in this animation, or you don’t see if they landed work, but it’d be interesting to also plug migration data into this map.

And look at that little blue dot along the Mid-Atlantic. That’s Washington, D.C., people! Or at least I think it is! Regardless, socialism! Government job programs! Big Government blah blah blah! (Click the screenshot to head to Slate’s site and watch the animation.)

(Screenshot from Slate)

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NOT A SHOCKER: Last week

Late last fall, Sam Warren lost a client who’d fallen on hard times. That client was the state of Georgia.

The 52-year-old consultant and Powder Springs resident, who made his living writing operational manuals for corporations and government agencies, learned the state was instituting a “hard freeze” on outside contracts. Warren, who says never in his life has he left one job without another firmly in place, started making calls to drum up more business. Then he made some more calls.

Now, friends who told Warren in November that they’d try to help him secure work are looking for work themselves.

“It’s dry,” he says. “Dry and dead.”

Last week, Warren was among the estimated 19,000 people who packed into the Georgia World Congress Center to compete for what’s beginning to seem like an impossible find: a job.

Read the rest of this feature here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Last week, metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate rose to 8.7 percent, the highest it’s been since 1983. And while there are glimmers of hope here and there, the bad news continues to outweigh the good.

Tomorrow evening, the state Department of Labor and WSBTV will sponsor a career expo and job fair at the Georgia World Congress Center. Department officials say 100 employers will be on hand, some of whom are hiring. The fair will be held from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In addition to the companies, more than 100 service providers will be on hand to help attendees learn how to pick a career, conduct job interviews, manage finances after a job loss, and other skills. A resume coach and 100 computers for job searches and resume updates will also be available. Representatives from two-year and four-year private educational institutions and technical colleges will attend to offer information about their programs.

Department officials suggest job seekers bring updated resumes and wear professional attire for job interviews. To reach the Georgia World Congress Center by public transit, check out the A-TRAIN trip planner. The Atlanta Community Food Bank will be accepting canned food donations at the door, as well.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Environmentally-friendly construction product maker GreenTech is coming to Coffee County! And it’s bringing jobs, people! Wonderful, delicious jobs.

From Gov. Sonny Perdue’s offfice:

Governor Sonny Perdue today announced that environmentally-friendly construction product maker GreenTech Manufacturing plans to locate a new facility in Douglas. The company will create 320 jobs and invest more than $20 million in a manufacturing and distribution facility.

…(Ed. This is the part where we skip Perdue’s quote about “moving forward,” “real solutions,” “dynamic synergy,” etc.)

GreenTech Manufacturing has contracted a 103,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center located on nine acres in Douglas’s Southwest Industrial Park. GreenTech is wholly owned by Gulf Coast Arms, a nonprofit trust incorporated in Texas, whose mission is to foster sustainability and affordability solutions across the country and abroad.

GreenTech uses the innovative Powder Impression Molding (PIM) system to produce stronger-than-steel, lightweight construction products using up to 95 percent recycled materials from single-stream solid waste sources. The result is an environmentally sustainable, efficient and cost-effective alternative to traditional construction products such as metal, wood, concrete and fiberglass.

Jobs! Full release after the jump.

(more…)

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The Georgia Department of Transportation has unveiled a website to allow residents to track projects that are part of President Barack Obama’s stimulus program.

From the department:

Visitors to the site will find links to topics including Georgia’s stimulus transportation funding chart, project categories, the Department’s current efforts, links to other sites and resources, frequently asked questions and much more. The Web site will be closely monitored and periodic updates will be added continually.

The department’s December call for transportation project proposals generated more than 850 responses from Georgia cities and counties. The president’s $787 billion plan allocated $932 million for transportation projects in the Peach State.

The department says it’s combing through the cities and counties’ wishlists — which totaled more than $1 billion — and will post information about projects once they are approved. That could be as early as Friday or Monday.

(Photo courtesy the gubment)

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Thousands of people lined up for an Atlanta Federal Center Career Fair at 100 Alabama Street in downtown Atlanta this morning to get information about federal jobs being offered by over two dozen federal agencies. According to police, people started forming lines at 6 a.m. even though the job fair did not start until 10 a.m.

An unemployed man who asked not to be identified said he had been waiting for more than three hours to go inside. When asked what type of job he was looking for, he replied, “Right now, whatever is available.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Current amount, in dollars, of President Obama’s stimulus plan aimed to create jobs and spur the economy: 827 billion

Amount, in dollars, Mayor Shirley Franklin recently requested for Atlanta projects: 1.88 billion

Estimated number of city jobs Franklin says the federal stimulus plan could create: 40,000

Number of police officers Franklin wants to add with stimulus money: 200

Dollar value of sewer projects the city wants to build using stimulus funds: 801 million

Amount, in dollars, the city requested to build the International Terminal at Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport: 500 million

Number of federal dollars Franklin says would go to offset the city’s budget deficit: 0

Amount, in dollars, the Georgia Department of Transportation has requested for state projects: 3.4 billion

Estimated number of jobs Georgia could gain because of the stimulus package: 143,000

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, U.S. Conference of Mayors

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Watch out, Athens residents — ya done gone made Gov. Sonny Perdue all angry-like with your opposition to the $450 million National Bio- and Agro Defense lab that was proposed near the state’s epicenter of music and binge drinking.

And now that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has ostensibly chosen Kansas to be the site where scientists will research common maladies such as hog chlorea and Nipah virus, Perdue’s unleashed the verbal venom and started pointing fingers. You cost him “jobs!”

From a Perdue press release on Friday:

“This morning, I spoke with Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Jay Cohen about Georgia’s bid for the National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility. He made it clear that we had a strong technical proposal that met the criteria DHS laid out for this facility. However, I was extremely disappointed to learn that despite strong support from UGA and our elected officials, a small activist minority of the local community has effectively taken away a great opportunity for the Athens area. As the Centers for Disease Control has shown, the addition of NBAF would have meant stable, high-paying jobs and significant investment for our state. When I specifically asked Under Secretary Cohen about the qualifications for the facility, he quickly pointed out that opposition by a tiny contingent was the definitive reason Athens was not selected.”

Patrick Fox of the AJC reports that members of For Athens Quality-of-Life, a group that opposed the facility, say they’re happy to take the blame, but don’t deserve all the credit. According to the Associated Press, Kansas may have won out because Perdue didn’t kick in enough financial incentives to woo the feds.

[Says Kathy Prescott of the group:] “I don’t think [the governor] wants people to believe that one of the reasons that Georgia lost was because he didn’t pony up enough money.”

Judging that these incentive packages rarely bring about any good, it may have been a good move by Perdue, who’s surely looking forward to a long legislative session where the $2.5-billion budget shortfall will be of great concern.

(Photo illustration courtesy of Republican Rebel)

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U.S. unemployment rate in November 2007: 4.7 percent

U.S. unemployment rate in December 2007: 5.0 percent

Months since such a large increase in unemployment was recorded in single month: 73

Months since the 9/11 attacks: 74

Georgia’s December 2007 unemployment rate: 4.6 percent

Unemployed persons in Georgia: 236,454

Approximate weekly unemployment insurance benefit for someone laid off from full-time job paying $10/hour: $138

Portion of that $138 owed in state and federal income taxes: $22

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Georgia Department of Labor, National Employment Law Project

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Georgia has lost 2.2 percent of its manufacturing jobs in the past 12 months.

According to Reliable Plant magazine (sister publication of the Lube-Tips Newsletter), nearly half of the 12,771 lost jobs were in textiles and apparel.

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