For more than 10 years, Area Development Magazine has rated Georgia the No. 1 state for business in the U.S. And in January 2025, Site Selection Magazine named Georgia the top state in the nation for our business climate. On January 31, 2025, Marion Phillips, Research Manager with Georgia Power Economic Development and chair of the MAX Data Council, joined MAX to share highlights of Georgia’s economic development happenings over the last year. She also discussed the latest developments with some of Georgia’s burgeoning and high growth industries.
In her talk, Phillips highlighted the critical role that our state’s workforce ecosystem plays to ensure workers have the skills that employers need. In addition, she shared some salient points when it comes to our current and future positioning for economic development. Here are just a few examples:
- Georgia is the top state for business for 11 years running with Area Development Magazine. And Georgia Power, as a part of the economic development team that is working to make Georgia better, is considered a top utility in economic development by both Business Facilities and Site Selection magazines.
- In 2024, nearly 17,000 new jobs were created in Georgia and the state saw $9.1 billion in new investment.
- One of Georgia’s strengths is the diversity of our industry base which ranges from aerospace and automotive manufacturing to food processing, life sciences, and warehouse distribution as well as headquarters operations. Our state is not reliant on one specific industry. There is a very robust pipeline of companies across many industries seeking to expand or locate in the state.
- Quality of life is rising in importance. Quality of life encompasses everything from housing to traffic to crime rates. It is becoming more and more important as people (the workforce) want to live near certain amenities.
- Two major growth industry areas for Georgia are Data Centers and Electric Transportation or Electric Vehicles (and related supply chain industries). Georgia is becoming an epicenter of the electric automotive and batteries industry.
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Launched in 2014, the mission of MAX is to advance economic competitiveness in the Atlanta region by strengthening connections, collaborations, and practices among workforce developers and organizations engaged in workforce development.
Through our webinar series, MAX Minutes, MAX seeks to bring timely insights to providers, intermediaries, and other partners in workforce. MAX Minutes features talks by key experts in the Atlanta region and beyond on important workforce matters.