Atlanta area jobs

ATM and self-checkout machines manufacturer NCR recently announced that it will be creating 916 jobs in the Atlanta area. A spokesperson for the company said that that it plans to increase its workforce in Georgia by 50 percent during the course of the next 26 months. Anywhere between 60 to 80 percent of these new jobs will be in Peachtree City, which is part of the metropolitan area that makes up Atlanta.

This news comes at a time when the Atlanta jobless rate was up to 6.5 percent in September from 6.2 percent in August. The most recent statistics from the state Department of Labor show that 17,200 jobs in Atlanta last month, which is almost half the number it has lost in the last year. Experts believe that these new Atlanta area jobs will make up for the 500 positions cut by Panasonic in Peachtree City.

Although these jobs may take the place of the others lost as far as statistics go, Matt Forshee, who is the president and CEO of the Fayette County Development Authority, said that few of the employees effected by the Panasonic cuts will have the customer service skills needed for these positions.

According to Forshee, Fortune 500 company NCR has plans to train somewhere around 6,200 employees a year in Peachtree City. These positions will help the economy further because workers who are from out of town will be staying at area hotels and eating near-by restaurants.
"I just tell 'em welcome to Peachtree City and plan to stay," said Harold Logsdon, who is the Mayor of Peachtree City.

The other 20 to 40 percent of the Atlanta area jobs will be going to Duluth. The company currently has around 600 employees in this part of the metro.

NCR already has plans to invest $15 million in upgrades to the 360,000-square-foot Peachtree city facility. At this time, 300 people in logistics there. Forshee said that when the company finishes adding all the new jobs, NCR may be the largest private employer in the county.

"Georgia's thriving business environment and large, multilingual work force will enhance NCR's ability to provide cost-effective service delivery and the world's highest levels of customer satisfaction and solution availability," said NCR's senior vice president Christine Wallace in a recent release.