ATLANTA – The Atlanta-Sandy Springs metropolitan area was the nation’s eighth-largest again last year, according to population figures the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.
The Atlanta-Sandy Springs metro area numbered more than 6.2 million residents as of last July, an increase of 78,968 compared to July of the previous year. Atlanta-Sandy Springs also was No. 8 on the metropolitan area population list for 2021.
The nation’s largest metropolitan areas as of last July continued to be the areas in and around New York City with a population of 19.6 million, the Los Angeles metro with 12.9 million residents, and the Chicago area with a population of 9.4 million. However, all three of those metro areas lost population between July 2021 and last July.
Metro Atlanta’s population grew the most – by 78,968 residents – between the middle of 2021 and mid-2022 among the nation’s 15 largest metro areas, behind only Dallas-Fort Worth and metro Houston. The population of the Phoenix metro area increased almost as much as Atlanta during that period, growing by 72,841 residents.
Georgia didn’t land any cities among the nation’s 15 largest or fastest-growing cities with populations of at least 50,000 as of last July. Nine of the nation’s 15 fastest growing cities were in the South, and six of those were in Texas, according to the Census Bureau.
Atlanta punches below its weight when it comes to ranking among the county’s largest cities because the city itself is relatively small compared to the anchor cities inside other major metropolitan areas. The city of Atlanta held just less than 500,000 residents as of July 2021.
ATLANTA – The State Transportation Board gave the go-ahead Thursday to a series of improvements along Georgia 316 between Lawrenceville and Athens to relieve traffic congestion and improve safety along the heavily traveled corridor.
Board members approved a joint resolution with the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) to move forward on the first of three “bundles” of projects, a $100 million plan to build grade-separated interchanges at Georgia 316’s intersections with Bethlehem and Barber Creek roads in Barrow County.
The Georgia Department of Transportation will issue a request for proposals from interested contractors in July, Andrew Hoenig, construction program manager for the DOT’s Office of Alternative Delivery, told members of the board’s Program Delivery Committee on Wednesday.
The DOT will announce the apparent winner of the bidding in December and return to the board early next year for a notice to proceed with the work, Hoenig said. He said construction will start during the fall of next year,
“We’re looking at trying to grade separate some of the signalized intersections along the corridor,” he said. “You have a lot of conflicting movements now, with turns to the side roads, and you have a lot of bumper-to-bumper traffic.”
Hoenig said a second bundle of projects in Oconee County will build grade-separated intersections at the 316 intersections with Jimmy Daniel Road and the Oconee Connector. The contract for $150 million of planned improvements is due to be let this fall, with the procurement process to begin early next year.
The third bundle, with a price tag of just less than $100 million, will include a grade-separated interchange at Georgia 316 and Kilcrease Road in Barrow County and construction of an overpass over 316 at Carl-Bethlehem Road. Letting bids for those projects won’t occur until the last quarter of next year.
Under the joint resolution the transportation board approved Thursday, the DOT will handle procuring the contractors and managing the projects. SRTA will sign the agreement with the contractor chosen for the first bundle of projects and – because it has the ability to fund projects over multiple years – SRTA will pay for the work.
“All of this is great new for all of us,” said board member Jamie Boswell, chairman of the board’s Program Delivery Committee and the board’s representative for Georgia’s 10th Congressional District. “If you get on 316, it’s wonderful.”
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.1% last month for the ninth consecutive month, three-tenths of a point below the national jobless rate of 3.4%, state Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson reported Thursday.
Georgia’s labor force increased for the seventh straight month to nearly 5.3 million, an all-time high. The number of employed grew to just more than 5.1 million, also a record.
Jobs were up a slight 0.2% in April from March but have risen 2.3% compared to April of last year to almost 4.9 million, another all-time high.
“The state’s economy continues to soar with low unemployment and job growth in virtually every sector,” Thompson said.
Job numbers in the private education and health services sector grew to 655,900, followed by an increase of 518,400 in the leisure and hospitality sector.
Initial unemployment claims last month were up by 15% over March to 25,407. Over the year, initial jobless claims rose by 46%.
More than 154,000 job listings were posted online last month for Georgians to access. The top industries for openings included health care with 32,300 openings, retail trade with 18,400, and accommodation and food services with 13,300 openings.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp will lead an economic development mission to Israel this weekend, the governor’s office announced Wednesday.
The trip will mark Kemp’s second overseas visit since he began his second term in office in January. He addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the week after his second inauguration ceremony.
The governor will be heading to Israel at a time of heightened tension there. Israel’s military hit sites in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip last month in retaliation for rocket attacks it blamed on the Islamist group Hamas. The back and forth came after police raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Citing security concerns, the governor’s office did not release details of the trip other than that Kemp will meet with Israeli companies that conduct business in Georgia as well as with government officials.
Kemp and the Georgia Department of Economic Development jointly reported last February that the state achieved a record-breaking year for international trade last year for the second consecutive year.
In 2022, Georgia’s total trade exceeded $196 billion across 221 countries and territories. The state surpassed $47 billion in exports last year, breaking the previous record by nearly $5 billion.
Declining carbon emissions in Georgia are due largely to less use of coal to generate electricity.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s carbon emissions are declining despite strong economic and population growth, according to a statewide research initiative begun in 2020 by a multi-university collaboaration.
Carbon emissions in the Peach State fell by 5% between 2017 and 2021, researchers from Drawdown Georgia reported this week. Put another way, the carbon footprint of Georgia’s “average” citizen has declined 8% from 22,092 to 20,253 pounds.
“Based on the collaborations we’re a part of, we’re confident this is only the beginning of Georgia’s carbon reduction trend,” said John Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, a primary funding resource for Drawdown Georgia.
A large part of the decline in carbon emissions is coming from the electricity sector, with Georgia power plant emissions falling by 15% between 2017 and 2021. The state’s utilities have moved away from coal in recent years in favor of natural gas and large-scale solar energy due to a combination of federal regulatory actions and public pressure.
The carbon footprint of offices and businesses has decreased due to changes in working patterns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the report found. Conversely, emissions due to use of electricity by residential customers has increases as many Georgians now work from home for at least part of the work week.
Transportation-related carbon emissions accounted for nearly 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2021, up 4% from 2017. Nearly all of that increase was driven by higher emissions from diesel-fueled medium and heavy-duty trucks caused by the pandemic-driven boom in online retailing.
Marilyn Brown, a professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, said the report shows a mixed bag of encouraging and concerning news.
“While some numbers are trending in the right direction, our data analysis also tells us that segments of our economy have an expanding carbon footprint,” Brown said. “This helps us understand how to focus climate solutions work in Georgia where it is most needed.”
