Data released last week by the Georgia Department of Labor show a decline in payroll jobs in the Savannah metro area (Chatham, Effingham and Bryan counties) from December to January, but don’t worry about that.
January is always a lousy month for employment, and the metro area estimates released by the state are not adjusted for seasonality.
The numbers provide even more confirmation that 2014 was one of the best years ever for job growth in the Savannah area.
Of course, we’re not doing this on our own. We’re riding the wave of the national economy, which is finally reeling in some of the slack that we’ve seen across many sectors since the 2007-2009 recession.
Consider that 2014 was the best year for job growth in the United States since 1999, and it was the best year for private sector job growth since 1997.
We’re also riding the wave of a much stronger statewide economy. The number of payroll jobs in Georgia increased by 3.2 percent from January 2014 to January 2015. The growth was dominated by strong numbers from the Atlanta metro area, which saw payroll jobs increase by 4.3 percent, but there were also solid year-over-year gains in most of the state’s metro areas.
The Savannah area had an estimated 165,600 payroll jobs in January 2015, up 8,200 (5.2 percent) from January 2014. That’s an eye poppingly good number that we shouldn’t expect to see repeated every year.
In previous months, there had been reason for cautious optimism that construction employment was on the rise, and these latest estimates suggest things are finally turning around for that sector, which was decimated by the housing bust.
The number of manufacturing jobs in the Savannah metro area increased by 1,000 between January 2014 and January 2015. That’s an impressive 6.5 percent gain.
But leisure and hospitality led the way in 2014. In January, the sector had 24,300 payroll jobs, an 11.0 percent increase over the past year.
As a community, we’ve placed a lot of chips on tourism, and critics are right when they note that many of the jobs offer low wages. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay in the U.S. in 2012 for bartenders, cooks, servers and other food workers was under $21,000.
At the same time, jobs in leisure and hospitality can provide entry-level opportunities to those with minimal formal education, and many of the jobs offer quick opportunities for advancement. I know many adults living full, rich lives and making good money in the hospitality industry.
Interestingly, the estimates released last week also show an increase of 600 jobs in the information sector over the past year. It will be interesting to see if that number holds in the coming months.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.