Atlanta economic Growth (Washington, Millen: college, calculated, high income)

[Huntsville_secede]

Atlanta pay, inequality languish despite economic rebound, study says

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/atlan...nHpoWGdueps2O/

Metro Atlanta incomes have faltered since 2007 despite strong job growth, according to a report this week from the Brookings Institution.

Of the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S., Atlanta was 33rd in “economic growth,” which the think tank calculated by measuring jobs, business growth and entrepeneurship.

Adjusted for inflation, Atlanta’s median income fell 3.9 percent during the decade. Seventy-four of the metros had stronger results, led by Austin, where median incomes climbed 15.9 percent.

[atler8]

Originally Posted by Huntsville_secede

Atlanta pay, inequality languish despite economic rebound, study says

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/atlan...nHpoWGdueps2O/

Metro Atlanta incomes have faltered since 2007 despite strong job growth, according to a report this week from the Brookings Institution.

Of the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S., Atlanta was 33rd in “economic growth,” which the think tank calculated by measuring jobs, business growth and entrepeneurship.

Adjusted for inflation, Atlanta’s median income fell 3.9 percent during the decade. Seventy-four of the metros had stronger results, led by Austin, where median incomes climbed 15.9 percent.

Thanks for your post & the data you've included here that points out a troubling trend for Atlanta & by extension Georgia. I have written about this problem before in other threads so I appreciate your effort here.
It's a matter of fact, that the entire state has languished in terms of income growth and not just metro Atlanta.
It is a fact that throughout the 1970's, 1980's & the 1990's, Georgia's per capita income rose, largely fueled by prosperity in metro Atlanta, & rose rapidly at such a rate that the State of Georgia jumped several places higher among the ranks of the 50 states in terms of where it stood in per capita income rank.
But, since the Millennium, Georgia's once meteoric income rise has slowed & then stumbled enough such that Georgia has since slid down in per capita income rank among the 50 states.
Obviously there are problems afoot in this state causing that poorer income performance of the last 18 or 19 years that are probably structural in nature but I also suspect that our state government has not been entirely blameless.
Curiously though, I might add that whenever I have previously brought in data to show that this has happened in hopes of bringing about more discussion of the problem, there has has never been any follow up feedback by members here. I don't know how to put it other than it's been akin to a "I see nothing, I know nothing" mentality prevalence here on the forum.

[AnsleyPark]

This is all very interesting. I would be curious to see a sector-by-sector breakdown in addition to this city-wide study. I poked around on the internet but couldn't find anything. I would bet that white collar jobs have shown significant salary improvement, and it is the blue collar jobs that have not kept up in this category. What do you all think are the causes of all of this?

[chiatldal]

Originally Posted by atler8

Thanks for your post & the data you've included here that points out a troubling trend for Atlanta & by extension Georgia. I have written about this problem before in other threads so I appreciate your effort here.
It's a matter of fact, that the entire state has languished in terms of income growth and not just metro Atlanta.
It is a fact that throughout the 1970's, 1980's & the 1990's, Georgia's per capita income rose, largely fueled by prosperity in metro Atlanta, & rose rapidly at such a rate that the State of Georgia jumped several places higher among the ranks of the 50 states in terms of where it stood in per capita income rank.
But, since the Millennium, Georgia's once meteoric income rise has slowed & then stumbled enough such that Georgia has since slid down in per capita income rank among the 50 states.
Obviously there are problems afoot in this state causing that poorer income performance of the last 18 or 19 years that are probably structural in nature but I also suspect that our state government has not been entirely blameless.
Curiously though, I might add that whenever I have previously brought in data to show that this has happened in hopes of bringing about more discussion of the problem, there has has never been any follow up feedback by members here. I don't know how to put it other than it's been akin to a "I see nothing, I know nothing" mentality prevalence here on the forum.

because per capita income is not a direct reflection of middle class growth. The top 1% of US has over 40% of the US wealth alone.

Other wise gaining a few millionaires and a billionaire will completely change the medium income of a metro skrew over the actual average joe income.

So to some extent it becomes bragging over the top 1 - 10% of the country, has little to do with the actual middle class.

For Example Seattle, Houston GDP seem to punch way above their weight, but that exceeding wealth isn't in hands of the general population their it's in the hands of a few billion and millionaires.

Georgia has 9 billionaires, Washington 13 "including weathiest guy in the world" Texas has 48 billionaire....... but what does this has to do with the average joe the botton 90% "and that being nice" nothing.

So better question is what percentage of these metro are receiving these high incomes, I don't compare about a sprewed median income growth cause a few of the !% becoming richer.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

This is all very interesting. I would be curious to see a sector-by-sector breakdown in addition to this city-wide study. I poked around on the internet but couldn't find anything. I would bet that white collar jobs have shown significant salary improvement, and it is the blue collar jobs that have not kept up in this category. What do you all think are the causes of all of this?

Part of it is that the closed Ford/GM plants and Military bases from pre-recession, as well as unionized places like the Kmart Distribution Center, have predominately been replaced with low wage/non-union warehouse/distribution jobs.

Back in the 90s, workers at Kmart were making $14/hr. The facilites going up today (over 25 years of inflation later) barely even pay that much.

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

This is all very interesting. I would be curious to see a sector-by-sector breakdown in addition to this city-wide study. I poked around on the internet but couldn't find anything. I would bet that white collar jobs have shown significant salary improvement, and it is the blue collar jobs that have not kept up in this category. What do you all think are the causes of all of this?

Sort of related...

I've read a few articles lately about how California is exporting poor and middle class workers and importing high income/wealth workers. I've also read that one of the top destinations for people leaving California. Adding these two together is probably suppressing wage growth for the bottom half in GA.

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by atler8

Curiously though, I might add that whenever I have previously brought in data to show that this has happened in hopes of bringing about more discussion of the problem, there has has never been any follow up feedback by members here. I don't know how to put it other than it's been akin to a "I see nothing, I know nothing" mentality prevalence here on the forum.

Let me tell you something...I have been attempting to be more vocal on issues I see as important and I can tell you that it is exhausting!! Most people don't want to listen and most people don't want to challenge themselves (learn something new/different from what they believe). They are quiet satisfied to maintain the status quo and don't want to address their mental slavery. You can say what you feel needs to be said and then after that, just stop. It's not worth the effort. You do what you can do to make change or change your situation. Try to help those who are open to being helped/open to learning something new. You said that they have a see nothing and know nothing personality. I have seen people who don't want to know. I have seen people who know and don't care. You can't fix that, love.

[Mutiny77]

Link to the actual study? Couldn't find it on the Brookings website and it's not included in the article.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Link to the actual study? Couldn't find it on the Brookings website and it's not included in the article.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/m...ng-prosperity/

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by chiatldal

because per capita income is not a direct reflection of middle class growth. The top 1% of US has over 40% of the US wealth alone.

Other wise gaining a few millionaires and a billionaire will completely change the medium income of a metro skrew over the actual average joe income.

So to some extent it becomes bragging over the top 1 - 10% of the country, has little to do with the actual middle class.

For Example Seattle, Houston GDP seem to punch way above their weight, but that exceeding wealth isn't in hands of the general population their it's in the hands of a few billion and millionaires.

Georgia has 9 billionaires, Washington 13 "including weathiest guy in the world" Texas has 48 billionaire....... but what does this has to do with the average joe the botton 90% "and that being nice" nothing.

So better question is what percentage of these metro are receiving these high incomes, I don't compare about a sprewed median income growth cause a few of the !% becoming richer.

Statements comparing Atlanta to Houston and Seattle need to be more detailed. Seattle is a more educated metro than Atlanta. Seattle's economy is Tech, the Port and Boeing. Port and Boeing jobs can also be high paying as they are unionized and Boeing is almost a monopoly in its industry, thus, able to generate even better revenue to share with its employees.

For Houston, again, its a big port city (more foreign tonnage than any other in the U.S.) i.e. union work for blue collar residents. Second, its petrochemical, where also non-college grads can secure good paying jobs in the oil field. Third, Houston has the biggest medical/healthcare complex anywhere in the western hemisphere, aka The Texas Medical center. We all know healthcare is a growth field with good paying work. Atlanta's economy is its air connections, post-secondary education cluster, banking, film industry and tourism.