Perdue’s “Funky” Economy: Fewer High-Paying Jobs in 2006

Perdue = Plummeting Income; Soaring Job Losses


(Atlanta) Georgians will continue to bring home less money in 2006 under Gov. Sonny Perdue. According to Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, only 6 percent of the jobs created in Georgia in 2006 will be high-income (over $50,000) – less than half the national average. That would mean that only 3,600 jobs created in Georgia in 2006 would pay $50,000 or more. Combine the state’s dismal wage prospects in 2006 with the U.S. Census’s recent report that Georgia had the nation’s sharpest decline in income, and the affect on the Georgia wallet is frightening. Unfortunately, opportunities for Georgians under Gov. Sonny Perdue are increasingly scarce and show no sign of improvement. [Kanell, “December job tally disappoints,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/7/2006; “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2005, p. 23 of the report; p. 30 of the file]


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on 1/7/2006 that, “High-paying jobs --- $50,000 or more --- represented about 13 percent of the new jobs nationally last year but just 6 percent of the 60,000 jobs added in Georgia, Dhawan said. And in metro Atlanta, there were no net high-paying jobs added. ‘There's a disparity,’ Dhawan said. ‘The local economy is showing its own funky spot.’” [Kanell, “December job tally disappoints,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/7/2006]

Georgians’ household income has taken a steep nosedive under Gov. Perdue. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia had the sharpest drop in Real Median Household Income in the nation for 2004, plummeting 4.7%. [“Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2005, p. 23 of the report; p. 30 of the file; GBPI Budget Notes, Fall 2005, p.2]

“Unfortunately, the economic forecast in Perdue-ravaged Georgia continues to be plummeting wages and soaring job losses,” said Bobby Kahn, Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia. “At least Georgians will get a chance to change the state’s forecast this year by voting out Gov. Perdue.”

It is not only the plummeting income level in the state that is hampering the Georgia economy. Over the past 12 months, Georgia trailed only Katrina-ravaged Louisiana in the jump in the number of new unemployed persons (34,200). Georgia’s unemployment rate also had one of the largest increases in the nation (an increase of 12.5%; an increase of 6/10 of a percentage point – 4th in the nation) [Bureau of Labor Statistics, Data comparison between November 2004 and November 2005 from “Table 3. Civilian labor force and unemployment by state and selected areas, seasonally adjusted”]

In 2005, Georgia’s unemployment rate exceeded the national average for the first time since the 1980s, and that trend has unfortunately continued. Georgia is not just in a downturn compared to the nation; the state unemployment rate is at its highest level since 1994. [Comparison: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Georgia “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate, 1980-present; Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States, “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate, 1980-present; Comparison: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Georgia “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate, 1980-present]