Youth Jobs in Atlanta Lost Due to Lack of Funding

Several young people who were hoping to be employed this summer will now be without jobs in Atlanta.

Several area organizations have recently learned they will not receive the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding they were expecting in order to create summer jobs programs for local youth, according to an article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Lindsay Street Baptist Church had planned to hire eight youth ministers who would serve as mentors at a free summer camp for children whose parents are busy working. The church was recently told it will not receive the funding it needs to pay those youth ministers $8.50 per hour.

The free summer camp is being offered to 25 children who are 13-years old or younger, and is meant to be an alternative for children whose parents cannot afford to send them to a paid camp.

Other organizations have recently lost their funding for youth summer job programs as well. Hapeville Charter Career Academy was planning to pay 41 students to move furniture, books and equipment into new buildings, but did not receive the anticipated funding to do so.

The funding for these programs was supposed to come from federal stimulus money slated to expand the Georgia TeenWork program. TeenWork, which previously only employed foster children, was set to expand by 15,000 jobs for children from low-income families.

Some of the blame is being placed on the McClendon Project, a nonprofit organization that told both organizations about the government-funded jobs programs and helped students fill out applications.

Jobs in Atlanta Give City Low Milken Ranking

The inability of the local economy to support more jobs in Atlanta contributed to the city's low placement on a new report.

The 2009 Milken Institute's annual list of best performing cities ranked the metro Atlanta area 106th in the nation. The report ranks cities based on how they are doing at creating and retaining jobs amid a challenging economy and evaluates such factors as job and salary growth and the strength of local high-tech industries.

Atlanta's latest ranking is a large decline from the city's 59th place ranking during 2008. The city's five-year job growth, from 2003 to 2008, came in 63rd place, while its five-year wages and salary growth, from 2002 to 2007, came in 110th place.

Atlanta's lower placement is not a big surprise, given the recent state of the local economy, which has continued to lose jobs as the unemployment rate increases.

During September, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta area saw its unemployment rate increase from 10.3 percent to 10.5 percent, which was higher than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.8 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 2,270,000 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 2,280,000 workers during August and a 5.9 percent decrease from last year.

Two other Georgia cities actually improved their placement on the Milken list. Savannah was ranked 39th, up from 24th place during 2008, while Augusta was ranked 82nd, up from 121st place last year.

Austin, Texas, was ranked first in the nation, followed by Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas; Houston, Texas; Durham, N.C.; Olympia, Wash.; Huntsville, Ala.; Lafayette, La.; and Raleigh-Cary, N.C.

"Regional economic factors also strongly influenced the rankings this year, with the oil and gas sector, technology and alternative energy providing stability among metros in Texas, North Carolina, Washington and Louisiana, which also benefited from low dependence on housing/construction," the report noted.

On the other end of the scale was Flint, Mich., which placed dead last, followed by Detroit, Mich. and Toledo, Ohio.

Jobs in Atlanta Created by General Mills

One well-known food distribution company is helping to create new jobs in Atlanta.

General Mills recently announced its plan to construct a $42 million distribution facility, a move that will create 112 jobs in Walton County. It took the company 18 months to select a site for the new project. General Mills considered more than 175 miles of space throughout 24 counties.

General Mills is the world's sixth-largest food company and makes such products as Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Haagen-Dazs. The company, with the assistance of Doughtie, Nichols and Schnur, chose the Rockefeller Group for the development asignment.

"It is my understanding that this new built-to-suit facility will be one of the largest distribution centers ever built in the United States that meets the LEED certification standards for a green building," Doughtie said. "It is certainly the largest LEED certified distribution building ever built in the Atlanta market and in the Southeast."

The City of Social Circle, Walton County and the State of Georgia worked together to bring the new project to Atlanta. The project will help the area's declining construction industry and increasing unemployment rate.

During April, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta area's unemployment rate stayed at 9.1 percent. The area had a total non-farm employment of 2,322,100 workers during April, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 2,323,800 workers during March and a 5.1 percent decrease from last year.

The construction industry employed 107,100 workers during April, 108,800 workers during March and a 17.9 percent decrease from last year.

Jobs in Atlanta

Despite that fact that 600 jobs in Atlanta were created in October, the city's unemployment rate continued to rise, according to a recent press release put out by the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL). Last month 6.8 percent of the metro area's residents were without work, which is a 0.4 percent increase from September and 2.4 percent higher than the jobless rate of October 2007.

This increase was mirrored throughout the state, as Georgia's unemployment rate climbed to 7.0 percent. GDOL statistics show that this figure was up 0.6 percent from September and 2.5 percent from last year's 4.5 percent jobless rate. Currently, unemployment in the state is the highest it's been in the last 16 years.

"Georgia's economy continues to suffer from increasing job losses and rising unemployment," said Michael Thurmond, who is the State Labor Commissioner. "I commend out state's congressional delegation and President Bush for approving extended unemployment insurance benefits for the more than 90,000 Georgians who may be eligible under the new law. This is welcomed and much-needed financial assistance, as they search for new jobs."

The addition of approximately 600 Atlanta jobs last month couldn't help the situation much. Since last year, the metro area has lost somewhere around 44,800 positions. Throughout the state, approximately 61,300 jobs during the last 12 months. According to Thurmond, those claiming unemployment benefits have increased by around 75 percent since last year.

One of the largest contributors to state's problem is the real estate market, which has been bogged down with too many houses for sale and too fewer buyers. The high rate of foreclosures has made things even more difficult. This industry has caused trouble for many other areas of employment including construction and manufacturing.

Experts expect that the situation will get worse before it gets any better. Unemployment rates are likely to continue to rise into next year. The average jobless rate for next year will likely by somewhere around 7.5 percent and many believe that it will end up somewhere around 8 percent during 2010, according to the Georgia State Economic Forecasting Center.

Jobs In Atlanta Lost

In January of this year Atlanta was ranked as one of the top cities for job group in the nation by Forbes magazine. Using various economic indicators, experts predicted that the metro area would create enough employment opportunities to earn it the fourth spot on the list. Despite the positive forecast, jobs in Atlanta are now being lost and unemployment is one the rise.

During the month of September unemployment in Metro Atlanta rose from 6.2 percent in August to 6.5 percent, accordingly to Georgia’s Department of Labor. This figure has yet to be adjusted for seasonal variations in employment, but the area currently has a jobless rate 0.4 percent higher than the national average.

Between August and September, employers cut 17,200 jobs in Atlanta. Over the last 12 months the metro area has lost somewhere around 33,600 positions. This means that Septembers loss was drastic, accounting for over half of the jobs lost over the course of the last year.

Throughout the nation there were 478,000 new individuals claiming unemployment benefits. According to the experts, an addition of more than 400,000 jobseekers unable to find work means that the labor market is week. The reports have shown figures have been this high since sometime during July.

September’s increase in unemployment in the Atlanta metro area was also significantly higher than the city experienced last year at the same time. There were approximately 44 percent more residents requiring benefits that there was during September of 2007.

According to Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, problems with the Atlanta job market and employment throughout the country started in construction, but has spread to include the manufacturing and trade and services sectors.

Currently Georgia is ranked as the second in the nation for job losses.

Despite the lost jobs, the Georgia Department of Labor says that they have a list of more than 4,000 positions that need to filled. The list can be found, along with help in filling for unemployment benefits, at any of the Departments 53 Career Centers.