Augusta booming despite tough economy (Atlanta, Augusta-Richmond County: shop, licenses, best)

[Kit624]

We just moved here, and I have found the job market here to be dismal. Not that it's not all over the country, but when the three solitary temp agencies have not work for over a month, that's pretty dismal. I have also submitted over 40 resumes for regular secretarial sort of jobs. Nada. I am aware the entire country is bad, but this area is below the national average. The jobs that are hiring are barely above minimum wage, not salaried positions, which is great if you're looking for pin money but not so great if you are trying to live, save for retirement (we are young, by the way, but I don't want to be working till I'm 90) and pay off student loans.

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by Kit624

We just moved here, and I have found the job market here to be dismal. Not that it's not all over the country, but when the three solitary temp agencies have not work for over a month, that's pretty dismal. I have also submitted over 40 resumes for regular secretarial sort of jobs. Nada. I am aware the entire country is bad, but this area is below the national average. The jobs that are hiring are barely above minimum wage, not salaried positions, which is great if you're looking for pin money but not so great if you are trying to live, save for retirement (we are young, by the way, but I don't want to be working till I'm 90) and pay off student loans.

This is false. Augusta is below the national & state average in unemployment. Which is a good thing. ADP is hiring a thousand people. The jobs are salaried mostly 35,000 to 65,000. You haven't search enough obviously. If you didn't even know about ADP. Which everybody should have heard about by now. SRS is holding job fairs.

[Kit624]

It is not false. I called an employment center right before we moved here and they told me that. If you do research online you will find that in April 2009 it was 8.8% for the entire area; nationally it is 8.6%.

ADP and SRS may be hiring. But they are only two places, and 200,000 people live here. That's .5 % of the entire city population. Additionally, they aren't in my field. So I'm just suggesting that if you want to move to Augusta you need to find out what is available here.

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by Kit624

It is not false. I called an employment center right before we moved here and they told me that. If you do research online you will find that in April 2009 it was 8.8% for the entire area; nationally it is 8.6%.

ADP and SRS may be hiring. But they are only two places, and 200,000 people live here. That's .5 % of the entire city population. Additionally, they aren't in my field. So I'm just suggesting that if you want
to move to Augusta you need to find out what is available here.

Sorry but you're wrong again!
Metro Augusta’s unemployment rate at 8.5 percent in April
Below the national avg of 8.9 and the state avg of 9.3

T-mobile, Judge Inc, Teleperformance, Husqvarna are hiring also.

[Kit624]

Well you have your research I have mine. I could not get your link to work so I don't know what source it came from. Anyone who is serious in their field can do their own research. I'm not going to sit here and debate minor fractions of a point. Whether it's above or below, 8.5 is still high.

And yes, they may be hiring, but they may not be what people want to do. If you are trained for something specific it's a lot tougher due to the lack of cultural and higher-revenue based opportunities. Virtually every city has companies that are hiring. Of course they do. That's not the point.

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by Kit624

Well you have your research I have mine. I could not get your link to work so I don't know what source it came from. Anyone who is serious in their field can do their own research. I'm not going to sit here and debate minor fractions of a point. Whether it's above or below, 8.5 is still high.

And yes, they may be hiring, but they may not be what people want to do. If you are trained for something specific it's a lot tougher due to the lack of cultural and higher-revenue based opportunities. Virtually every city has companies that are hiring. Of course they do. That's not the point.

It came from the dept of labor. Lol the link worked fine when I clicked it. What about this one then?
Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas
Augusta is still at 8.5% in April. Which is below the 8.9 national avg and 9.3 state avg.

I think you made your research up. Can you provide a link as to where you read this online?

[motonenterprises]

Just for the record. If an areas population isn't really growing, their unemployment numbers can be deceiving. The less people moving to an area the less that are looking for a job. For example. If a town has 100 people working 100 jobs then the unemployment rate is zero. But what happens when 100 more people move there and there aren't 100 more jobs? The unemployment rate goes up dramatically.

[Kit624]

Exactly, it's deceiving and you can't compare a city like DC and Atlanta and really use the same formula to find Augusta or say, something like Columbia.

[barii]

The Augusta unemployment numbers will continue to drop. From month to month which they're doing now. April numbers are down from March. May will be lower than April.

Atlanta and Augusta are the only two large metros in GA. To see the unemployment % go down from March to April. Columbus unemployment stayed the same. Macon and Savannah 's rose in April.

[motonenterprises]

Originally Posted by barii

The Augusta unemployment numbers will continue to drop. From month to month which they're doing now. April numbers are down from March. May will be lower than April.

Atlanta and Augusta are the only two large metros in GA. To see the unemployment % go down from March to April. Columbus unemployment stayed the same. Macon and Savannah 's rose in April.

Augusta is not a large metro, its midsize at best and has lost population from 2000-2007. Now Atlanta is a monster! More than 50 percent of the Georgia population lives in Atlanta metro.