economy

This morning a committee of state lawmakers will gather to consider cuts proposed by the state’s University System. A plan offered Monday by System officials includes proposals to close satellite campuses, cutting back on hours for libraries and student centers, and capping enrollments. It’s all in the effort to try to meet the request of lawmakers to come up with another $300 million in cuts, on top of hundreds of millions of cuts already proposed for next fiscal year. In east Georgia Tuesday, students, faculty and staff expressed anger in a town hall meeting at the Medical College of Georgia. Randy Bogan is a first year student studying respiratory therapy. "We have made great sacrifices...including my wife that I might be here. How am I going to go home and tell this to my wife that there's a possibility that I might not graduate from here...and I've got to go somewhere else and start all over again?" MCG is facing possible cuts of more than $25 million. Students worry that they may not be able to transfer to other schools, or that their student loans might be in jeopardy if drastic cuts are indeed made.

Georgia’s unemployment rate has hit a new record high. Fresh numbers from the state’s Department of Labor Wednesday show a 10.4 percent jobless mark for January. That is a bump up from 10.3 the month before. Over a year’s time, unemployment has risen two percentage points. State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says the job market crisis is deepening in Georgia—and he expects the unemployment rate to climb through 2010. And as state lawmakers consider ways to fill Georgia’s massive shortfall, Thurmond wants those in the Gold Dome to reconsider the layoff option for state employees. "The realization that if there are massive layoffs as have been projected, that will ultimately have a negative impact on Georgia’s overall job market...particularly in the private sector.” Thurmond praised the work of Congress to pass a temporary extension for unemployment insurance last night—a move that should get jobless Georgians another six to eight weeks of benefits. As for helping the state’s jobless, Thurmond says labor officials are set to roll-out one of the ideas collected from a January ‘jobs summit’. "Specific suggestions, and in some cases direction, as to how we could better partner with private sector employers to create jobs and spur hiring. You’ll see the result of that starting next week.” Thurmond says it involves expansion of the Georgia Works Initiative. In the program, unemployed Georgians can get up to six weeks of job training from an employer.

President Barack Obama told an audience at Savannah Technical College today that he wants to create jobs by focusing on energy efficiency. He said a country that leads in clean energy will also lead in the new global economy. The President said that 40 percent of all energy in the U.S. is used in homes. So he is proposing a new program called Home Star. It would give homeowners up to $1500 dollars in rebates when they update their energy appliances. There would be a $3000 rebate if an entire home would be made more energy efficient. The president called out a group of contractors in the audience. "These are companies ready to take new customers. All we gotta do is create the incentive to make it happen," he said. Mr. Obama said moving away from fossil fuels has the potential to create millions of jobs in the South. He pointed at the recent loan guarantee to build two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogle near Augusta. A move, he says, will create 3000 construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs. Environmental groups are protesting the loan guarantees to help the nuclear industry.

Savannah tourism leaders hope Delta’s second move to drop airfares between the coastal city and Atlanta will spur a permanent uptick in business. It comes following another round of letters between Savannah-area leaders and the airline concerning market fares. The Atlanta-based carrier says it’s dropping business-oriented fares as much as 40 percent. For the highest-priced walk-up tickets, those are cut from $650 to $400 roundtrip. Last month, the airline adjusted its pricing structure based on different advanced-purchase tiers for connecting fliers through Atlanta. In a letter received this week by Savannah business and airport officials, Delta wrote "we hope our actions address your concerns and speak to our continued committment to your community." AirTran last year gave-up the Savannah-Atlanta route, leaving Delta, which boosted fares. Patrick Graham says the move killed passenger volume and hurt tourism. The executive director of the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport says now, it’s up to area travelers to do their part: "I kept saying to the community ‘If you don’t fly these people (AirTran), they’re going to leave because they’re volumes aren’t high enough’. Then boom, they did, and I said ‘I’m sorry but I told you so’. And I’m basically saying the same thing to the community now...'If you want the service and lower fares to Atlanta, you have to support what they’re doing’.” Delta’s newest fare structure is for a trial period of four months

Governor Sonny Perdue joined Korean and American dignitaries Friday in celebrating the opening of Kia's first North American manufacturing facility in west Georgia. Mong-Koo Chung, chairman of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, was also on hand for the festivities in West Point. Perdue and Chung announced that Kia would come to Georgia four years ago. The Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia Plant was touted as a $1 billion investment in the state that would create 2,500 jobs. The 2,200-acre site is the home of the new Kia Sorento CUV and at full capacity, the facility will have the ability to produce 300,000 vehicles annually. The plant's economic impact to Georgia is estimated at about $4 billion a year and could bring 20,000 new jobs to a nine-county region by 2012.

Like many Georgia communities, Cordele was shut-out of recent transportation grant funding. But that’s not stopping an inland port project in southwest Georgia. What’s missing from that project’s plans now—more than $30 million worth of upgrades and repair on rail lines between Cordele and Savannah. But officials say the project will now rely on $4.5 million in smaller grants expected to be approved in the next 45 days. The intermodal facility has been in the works for some time. When operational, it will be able to accept freight containers from Savannah's port by rail. Once in Cordele, freight can be loaded to trucks for distribution to points west, south and north. The port would also take in containers from trucks, and send it to coastal Georgia. Officials say with fewer trucks needed to move containers, the facility would relieve congestion on area roads. Bruce Drennan is executive director of the Cordele-Crisp County Industrial Development Council. He says the facility will be a boon for the state once it’s up-and-running in December. "This inland port really and truly provides competition for Savannah with Mobile, New Orleans, and in some cases the Houston ports. Containers coming into those ports that can now come to Savannah more economically than going to Mobile." Drennan says the economic benefits for southwest Georgia would include thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in investment. He says because of that, it will change the region "forever". The planned Cordele port is modeled after one in Front Royal, Va. Drennan says that facility has had a direct impact of 15,000 jobs on the communities in that Virginia-region.

Several hundred pilots for the United Parcel Service face being furloughed as cost-saving talks break down between the company and the pilots’ union. Atlanta-based UPS and the Independent Pilots Association successfully avoided pilot furloughs last year after identifying other cost-saving measures. To avoid furloughs and layoffs, pilots took leaves of absences, cut some pay guarantees, and gave back sick time. But so far this year the economy is not going well and neither are subsequent cost-saving negotiations. The world’s largest package delivery company says the first phase of furloughs would start in May, with 170 pilots receiving notices. In all, 300 could face unpaid days off. Talks are continuing as both sides work to avoid the furloughs. Last month, UPS announced plans to eliminate 18-hundred management and administrative positions across the country.

Locking-in new business for Georgia is the primary aim of an annual outdoor event concluding today in the southwest corner of the state. The Georgia Quail Hunt is into its third decade, sponsored by state and local economic development officials. Over the course of three days of dinners and hunting, officials mingle with invited national – and sometimes international -- business executives. It’s all about getting more jobs and investment into Georgia. Ted Clem is president of the Albany-Dougherty County Economic Development Commission. He says it’s this event that often closes the deal. "These have been companies that we’ve been dealing with as a state for the last several months or perhaps a year where they’ve been investigating their opportunities and looking at the state of GA. So in most cases the relationship already exists." Clem says out of last year’s Quail Hunt, a national textile manufacturer agreed to re-locate its distribution hub in Albany. State officials say since the mid 1990's, they can attribute $2.5 billion and more than 8,000 jobs to discussions and deals closed at the Quail Hunt.

There’s a new face to the unemployed in Georgia. That's according to the job summit held today in Atlanta. State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says he hopes Monday's event will serve as a good launch pad to get services and job training to the people who need it the most. More than a half-million Georgians are out-of-work, representing almost 10 percent. And state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says something interesting showed up in the data. “The population who needs the training the most, is apparently accessing it the least.” Those are people who lost jobs in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Thurmond says males -- and specifically white males -- are the demographic now with the highest rate of unemployment in Georgia. It’s a 200 percent jump for that group since the recession began. Thurmond says that demographic needs to be connected to services that can help, like technical schools. Art teacher Randy English has been out-of-work for several months, and he’s gotten the message: "I’m definitely going to look into that and see what I can do with that. Because the more skills you have the more marketable you are. The more you learn, the better chance you have to getting a job.” English was one of many job seekers at the summit which included labor and business leaders on all levels to talk about the changing job market.

The state’s labor department delivered a check for $25,000 to southwest Georgia officials on Wednesday. It’s meant to boost business marketing. The region has been hit by job losses due to the recession. The money is an economic development grant and allows local officials to try to lure new business. State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond: "Former Speaker Tom Murphy once said at the local level local leaders can do more with $5,000 than we can do with $5 million at the state level. We’ve had some success in north Georgia, and we hope to replicate that in southwest Georgia as well”. Recently, Lumpkin County officials used a similar grant to attract a buyer for a former textile plant. Now, Albany officials hope to strike similar gold. Albany state representative Winfred Dukes says the city is hoping to fill a plant left vacant after Cooper Tire pulled-up stakes. "We have always worked diligently to try to have a diverse group of industries to come into our community, so we could have a mix that was not so one-dominated. We’ve always been grateful for that”. Dukes says the exit of Cooper Tire has been a tough blow, leaving almost 2,000 people without jobs.