During Wednesday’s State of the State address from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, the governor discussed some of the progress his state has made since he took office four years ago, and vowed that his administration would “set Georgia on a path of greatness for generations to come.”
“I’m proud to report that because of the foundation we have built, together, over the past four years, because of the resilience shown by the people of Georgia, because of the resolve they continue to show, the state of our state has never been stronger and more resilient!” the Republican governor said. “This session, we will not only build on the monumental achievements of the past four years, we will set Georgia on a path of greatness for generations to come.”
“This past year in particular was unprecedented for economic success in the Peach State,” he continued. “In less than 365 days, we announced four of the largest economic development projects in state history. Just those four projects alone will bring over 20,000 new jobs and over $17 billion in investment to rural communities across Georgia. Those good-paying jobs are in fields that will define the next generation of manufacturing, and that future will be made right here in Georgia.”
“And we aren’t slowing down,” Kemp added. “Just last week, we learned that in the first half of this fiscal year, our top-ranked Department of Economic Development helped to announce 17,500 new jobs and more than $13 billion in investment coming to Georgia.”
Under Kemp, Georgia’s economy reached record low unemployment rates, following the trend of Republican-led states performing better than Democrat-led states in recovering from the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Republican Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler announced that Georgia reached an unemployment rate of 3.0%, far below the national unemployment rate of 3.7%.
“We are seeing job numbers continue to rise across the state as Georgians secure employment,” said Butler. “Unemployment rates also dropped in all of our regional commissions in November as we entered the holiday employment period.”