Atlanta losing jobs, while other metro areas gaining (sales, real estate)

[lastminutemom]

If you are coming with a year's living expenses and a plan, you will be fine. Way to many people post on this board about simply moving here because the economy, climate, lifestyle, etc isn't appealing where they are.

I work with an agency that helps families in crisis, until the money runs out each month. GA doesn't offer much of a safety net.

People need to move where they get a job -- even if it isn't their first choice.

ATL's economy may be slower to recover than other places.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by GaBison2007

No offense to this article or to the OP but I hate these articles and the "beware beware of moving" mantras..........We get it, its' BAD...but It's bad everywhere

Moving to another city (not just the Atlanta metro) without a job lined up first isn't really a wise move in any economy, in my opinion.

Sure, someone can get lucky, or it's possible they can get by on a $10/hour job, or maybe they're self-employed or have a career where it's easy to pick up a new position wherever they go, but most people with families need to be a lot more careful.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

People need to move where they get a job -- even if it isn't their first choice.

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Moving to another city (not just the Atlanta metro) without a job lined up first isn't really a wise move in any economy, in my opinion.

These last couple of posts have such good advice, in my opinion, from people who know the score.

I myself am in metro Atlanta because of a job transfer. It's not like anyone offered my family a choice of moving anywhere we liked. If that happened, we wouldn't be here. But, particularly when there's a family to support, responsible people go where the job is.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by muxBuppie

We should raise taxes on the people lucky/blessed enough to have jobs. That will stimulate the economy...

And we wonder why we're in so much trouble.

[matt8325]

Unless you have connections these days it's almost impossible to find a job. This is especially true in Atlanta and Georgia in general, where the economy is much worse than most of the U.S. And why the heck are post-graduate students "flocking" to Atlanta ? Are they just dumb ???

[DTL3000]

Originally Posted by matt8325

Unless you have connections these days it's almost impossible to find a job. This is especially true in Atlanta and Georgia in general, where the economy is much worse than most of the U.S. And why the heck are post-graduate students "flocking" to Atlanta ? Are they just dumb ???

It seems like that was the case even before the economic meltdown. In my opinion, and personal experience unfortunately, the economy has been crap here since at least 2005 when Katrina hit and gas shot to $5 a gallon. Yet folks still keep coming here like it's the land of milk and honey.

I'm sure for some folks(entrepreneurs maybe), Atlanta may be a logical place to relocate. However, it ain't what it used to be.

[testa50]

Before the recession, Atlanta was employing thousands--probably tens of thousands--of people in an unsustainable development boom. Construction workers, civil engineers, mortgage brokers, city planners, you name it. When the recession hit, we did not go back to a normal level of activity in these fields, but an extremely depressed level of activity in these fields. Development-related employment started shedding jobs like there was no tomorrow. And these layoffs are still continuing as companies were able to struggle for a few years but ultimately folded.

So not only did we lose all of the "excess" jobs in these areas, these sectors contracted so much that we are probably well below normal, healthy employment in these areas too. The silver lining is that once this excess inventory is absorbed, there will once again be a new need for development and some employment will rebound in these sectors (although it will not return to boom levels hopefully).

What we really need to watch is job growth outside of construction (-7,100 jobs year over year), finance (-9,600 jobs), and government (-18,500 jobs). By and large, other sectors have been treading water, which is worse than growth but better than shedding jobs. Maybe once the bleeding in gov't/construction/finance ends and they simply stabilize, the rest of the private sector will no longer face that headwind.

And yes, despite everyone in Atlanta seeming to envy Charlotte's "can do" attitude, the economy is just as crappy there as it is here. Let's hope it recovers: our two cities are major trade partners, and when one suffers the other one feels the pain as well.


Oh, and in my own personal sphere, I've got a good number of friends who have landed jobs lately. Several teachers, a translator, a public utilities consultant, and an ER analyst. I don't think any of them really had any connections especially.

[Stars&StripesForever]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

It seems like that was the case even before the economic meltdown. In my opinion, and personal experience unfortunately, the economy has been crap here since at least 2005 when Katrina hit and gas shot to $5 a gallon. Yet folks still keep coming here like it's the land of milk and honey.

I'm sure for some folks(entrepreneurs maybe), Atlanta may be a logical place to relocate. However, it ain't what it used to be.

I agree.

This metro has been one of the hardest hit, economically, in the southeast. Only southwest Florida was hit harder, and they will always have tourism to fall back on. Of course, we do have more opportunities living in a large metro. My point is that as a percentage of growth, it appears that Atlanta has been hurt worse than most. We're the equivalent of a Phoenix of the east, with not quite as drastic home depreciation, though it has been particularly stronger than most.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

I work with an agency that helps families in crisis, until the money runs out each month. GA doesn't offer much of a safety net.

People need to move where they get a job -- even if it isn't their first choice.

ATL's economy may be slower to recover than other places.

This is something many people fail to recognize, especially if they come here from somewhere that does have a decent safety net.

I myself am in metro Atlanta because of a job transfer. It's not like anyone offered my family a choice of moving anywhere we liked. If that happened, we wouldn't be here. But, particularly when there's a family to support, responsible people go where the job is.

This was my situation as well. If I had compiled a list of 20 cities I wanted to live in Atlanta would never have made the list. I've lived next door to Georgia for most of my life and knew Atlanta wasn't my type of town. Given my druthers we'd be in Chattanooga--but there you go. Unless you're coming here from California or the northeast this town is substantially more expensive than what you're used to, and salaries are not commensurate with the cost of living. Definitely not something to jump into lightly.

[midtown mile girl]

[
Oh, and in my own personal sphere, I've got a good number of friends who have landed jobs lately. Several teachers, a translator, a public utilities consultant, and an ER analyst. I don't think any of them really had any connections especially.[/quote]

It's nice to know that someone is getting hired. That gives me hope that I'll be able to get an interview somewhere soon.