Workforce in Georgia: Filling the Gaps

Matthew Emerson is a senior at Newton County’s Eastside High School who plans to study aviation mechanics. This past spring, he visited a top aviation university in Florida and the aviation program at one of Georgia’s technical colleges. But what grabbed his attention was touring an aviation mechanics apprenticeship program.

Emerson says he learns better in an applied, hands-on setting.

“I know I enjoy and want to do things having to do with aviation,” he says. “So, when I have that topic mixed with subjects like math, it helps me understand it more and learn it. At my school, the pressure is to go to a traditional four-year college. But I’m leaning more toward an apprenticeship program because it’s not as much ‘school’ as going to a traditional college.”

A New Post-Secondary Narrative

State and local officials, economic developers and industry leaders, who have created tens of thousands of jobs in Georgia but are struggling to fill them, want to hear more stories like Emerson’s in the future. After years of relative silence about alternatives to college, the state is amplifying the message that there are multiple post-secondary career pathways.

Applied Learning: High school student Matthew Emerson (above), photographed at Aerodox Inc. in Covington, hopes to do an aviation mechanics apprenticeship. Photo contributed

In June, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Champ Bailey, an NFL Hall of Fame cornerback and University of Georgia football great, starred in three public service announcements highlighting workforce development resources available through the Technical

College System of Georgia (TCSG), Georgia’s College and Career Academies, and other public-private partnerships, including the opportunities available on the Department of Labor WorkSource Georgia website.

“Addressing workforce shortages is a policy issue we can all agree on – and should,” Jones said via email. “As a business owner, I know firsthand that innovative solutions and bringing awareness to resources will help solve our workforce problems. We recognize that attending a traditional four-year college as a road to employment isn’t for everyone. We need to ensure that resources are available and barriers are removed when Georgians transition from school to work. A return to vocational training, practical skills training and real-world experience is critical to ensuring we have a competitive and growing workforce.”

Where Are the Workers?

Georgia has maintained its competitive edge as a state where companies want to do business by providing an optimal economic growth environment, including a business-friendly tax structure, plenty of available land and facilities, and a highly efficient logistics network that moves goods to market. The byproduct of those policies and efforts is an excellent record of non-agricultural employment job creation, 7th nationally, ahead of most Southern states. Georgia also ranks 14th in high-tech employment and 11th in the number of STEM doctorates, indicating a robust base of talent in this critical sector, according to an analysis of national and state economic data trends compiled in the 2024 Economic Competitive Redbook published by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the chamber’s public policy arm.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Cornerback Champ Bailey, center left, is partnering with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, center right, to highlight workforce opportunities across the state. Photo credit: contributed

It’s one thing to create jobs. Filling them with qualified, trained workers is another matter. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, significant shortages were emerging in key industries vital to Georgia’s economy, notably advanced manufacturing, aviation, agriculture, transportation and logistics, and healthcare. These industry-wide pinch points in the mid-to-late 2010s became full-on crises when the pandemic hit.

“COVID gets blamed for a lot of the [workforce] shortages,” says Daniela Perry, vice president of the Georgia Chamber Foundation. “Certainly, that was an inflection point and exacerbated things, but what we see now is that the pandemic sped things up.”

The data from 2004 to 2024 shows that Georgia’s labor force participation rate – the number of people who are employed or actively seeking employment – has steadily declined. Georgia ranks 42nd in the nation in labor force participation.

“Nearly 40% of working-age adults are not currently engaged in the workforce,” Perry says.

Given the many jobs available and the number of working-age adults, it’s obvious significant barriers to employment exist, or many of those jobs would be filled. But sometimes, the same data that uncovers the problem can guide those looking for solutions.

A Region in Flux

Last year, the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Joint Development Authority (Savannah JDA) and other stakeholders commissioned a comprehensive regional workforce study encompassing a one-hour commute zone of the Bryan County Megasite, the industrial park being developed by the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, battery manufacturer LG Energy Solutions and other Tier 1 suppliers. The combined projects will create more than 15,000 jobs in the coastal region, many in advanced manufacturing.

Job Creation: Anna Chafin, president and CEO of RISE (Regional Industry Support Enterprise). Photo credit: Frank Fortune

The study’s purpose was to identify the existing and potential labor supply challenges facing area employers and to develop initiatives to support and deliver a robust pipeline of workers with the skills employers need most. In November 2023, Hugh “Trip” Tollison, president and CEO of Savannah’s Economic Development Authority (SEDA), revealed that by 2025, the current labor supply would not cover demand. The region would be up to 1,500 workers short.

Step one was to quickly address the immediate worker shortage. Partnering with Visit Savannah, the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, SEDA piggybacked on trade shows in select states such as Pennsylvania and Illinois where they could meet with the skilled workers they wanted to attract. Taking along corporate representatives, SEDA was able to speak one-on-one with people interested in learning what it’s like to live and work in the Savannah region.

“We need to ensure that resources are available and barriers are removed when Georgians transition from school to work. A return to vocational training, practical skills training and real-world experience is critical to ensuring we have a competitive and growing workforce.” Burt Jones, Lieutenant Governor, State of Georgia

But the workforce study also exposed issues dogging not just the region but also the state and nation: Access to education and training, a lack of transit options and access to childcare and affordable housing are barriers to sustainable growth and often reasons why adults aren’t in the workforce. A regional workforce initiative, Regional Industry Support Enterprise (RISE), was born.

“We needed to create an organization to convene everyone to collectively work on workforce, housing and all these [other issues],” Tollison says. “SEDA is funding RISE for the first year. We’re doing the marketing, implementing it, getting it rolling. RISE will be the facilitator of all the workforce-related initiatives in the region.”

Recruiting Military Talent: Tom Allmon, director of the directorate of human resources at Fort Stewart, and Col. Marc Austin, garrison commander of the army post. Photo credit: Frank Fortune

Anna Chafin is the organization’s president and CEO. She spent most of 2024 pitching RISE membership to eight counties in the region: Bryan, Bulloch, Candler, Chatham, Effingham, Evans, Liberty and Screven.

“These are the eight counties we believe are most heavily impacted by the job creation occurring in the region and those we thought would most benefit from the regional workforce organization,” says Chafin.

Separation Anxiety

Among the myriad data points highlighted in the study, Chafin was most surprised by the underutilization of military talent at Fort Stewart (Liberty County) and Hunter Army Airfield (Chatham County). Approximately 3,500 soldiers separate from the military annually from the two installations, with about 40% of that population remaining in the area.

“What was even more surprising was that we surveyed some of our existing industries through the study and found on average that only about 10% of their existing workforce are former military,” she says. “We are going to be more intentional in our strategies focused around trying to retain talent related [to] not just the military [personnel] who are separating, but the spouses. We learned recently that there are about 3,000 spouses at Fort Stewart and Hunter looking for employment. We want to help be a connector and work within our local industries.”

Col. Marc Austin, garrison commander at Fort Stewart, would welcome the conversation. There are multiple reasons why military families leave an area, he says.

“One of the things we find is the negative association with [hiring] spouses, [the thinking that] when I hire them, they’re only going to be here for two to three years, and then I’ll have to turn this position over,” he says.

Austin makes the case for reframing that argument, noting that enlisted personnel are often stationed for longer than three to five years at an assignment.

“If you hire a spouse and you give them a good opportunity and quality of life, what are the chances that they’ll stay here or that they re-enlist to stay here?” he says. “Now maybe it’s five to seven years. When they retire from the military, maybe they come back to live here if they’ve left, or they stay here when they separate because the spouse has a stable job with benefits, allowing the military member to transition without thinking, ‘I need a job right away to support the family’”

High-Demand Heroes

The Department of Defense (DoD) offers a comprehensive transition service to soldiers leaving the military, and in many instances, those programs and career skills training dovetail neatly into regional workforce needs. As part of its Transition Assistance Program (TAP), a service the DoD provides enlisted soldiers leaving the military, Fort Stewart offers a variety of courses including a 12-week construction skills training program. The course was established locally and has now expanded to all services nationally. The course is held at Fort Stewart and is funded by Home Depot.

Promising Future: Deke Cateau, CEO of A.G. Rhodes, and Jovonne Harvey, adminstrator at the Cobb Senior Rehabilitation facility in Marietta. Photo credit: Brandon Clifton

“Another program that is used and integral to demand in the I-16 Corridor is … Heroes MAKE America [HMA, the military initiative of the Manufacturing Institute],” says Tom Allmon, director of the directorate of human resources at Fort Stewart.

The HMA program provides a variety of manufacturing career pathways from robotics and mechatronics to quality management and maintenance technicians. Training is held at Savannah Technical College.

“Heroes MAKE America is then responsible for engaging with employers and getting interviews for soldiers,” Allmon says. “Employers are getting great employees when they get a soldier coming out of the military. They’re getting discipline and all the great skill sets so it’s really working well for them.”

Aircraft manufacturer Gulfstream has veteran hiring down to a science.

“Veterans make up roughly 25% of our Georgia workforce,” Jay Neely, Gulfstream’s vice president for law and public affairs, said via email. “Our workforce development team has dedicated recruiters focused on both veterans and transitioning service members, and since 2022, Gulfstream has hired more than 1,300 veterans to our workforce. One of the most effective tools for recruiting transitioning service members is our partnership with the DoD SkillBridge Program, which allows active-duty military to participate in a Gulfstream internship-to-hire program within the final 180 days of their active service. Successful candidates can join our team as permanent hires with the training and tools they need to thrive in the civilian role.”

Gulfstream takes an equally proactive stance in recruiting young workers. The company’s Georgia-based investments in school partnerships, including middle and high schools, technical colleges and state universities, average approximately $5 million annually. The company partners with schools in Bryan, Chatham, Effingham and Glynn counties, hiring juniors and seniors for part-time jobs in various areas of the business up to 20 hours a week, full-time during breaks. Often, apprenticeships lead directly to full-time jobs with Gulfstream.

In 2012, Gulfstream partnered with Savannah Tech to help build the school’s Aviation Training Center, a 30,000-square-foot center with four labs and a 5,000-square-foot hangar for hands-on learning. Savannah Tech’s College of Aviation includes continuing education courses and credit aviation programs for aircraft structural, aviation maintenance and avionics training and apprenticeships with Gulfstream and other aviation companies. Jimmie Smith, dean of Aviation at Savannah Tech, says students working for Gulfstream typically make up half the seats in the aircraft sheet metal, cabinetry and upholstery classes.

“We can run [students] through our interior class or our upholstery class in eight weeks, and they will be employable,” Smith says. “When a company picks you up, many times there will be more training but for the skills to compete for an opening position, they can get that here.”

Developing Leaders for the Long Haul

Of the many challenges facing the healthcare industry, Deke Cateau is most concerned that direct-care workers, especially those serving in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, don’t see themselves as having a career with a promising future.

“We have a very stratified system where the direct-care worker sits at the bottom of that system,” says Cateau, CEO of A.G. Rhodes, which operates three nursing homes and long- and short-term care facilities in Metro Atlanta. “Very few of those workers see themselves moving into a position like mine as CEO.”

That was the inspiration for the A.G. Rhodes Leadership Development Program, which identifies talent and cultivates leaders from within. The additional training is rigorous and takes about a year, depending on whether the employee takes the clinical or business track. It includes classroom instruction, courses in healthcare and leadership, and shadowing administrative staff. Students learn the details of running the facilities.

“These are all entry-level or post-entry-level staff who [administrators or managers] have identified as having that talent and that potential but might be lacking some of the educational requirements or some of the savvy related to leadership and promotion,” says Cateau. “They should be able to see a career path, starting at ground level to becoming a CEO. Our certified nursing assistants [CNA] and custodians who want to remain in that profession, we appreciate and honor those professions, but a progressive employer should ensure that employees who want to work their way up the ladder have an opportunity.”

When Jovonne Harvey started with A.G. Rhodes in 2012, she served as an admissions director at the company’s Grant Park facility. Today, thanks to the Leadership Development Program, Harvey is the administrator at the Cobb Senior Rehabilitation facility in Marietta, which recently underwent a $37.5 million renovation and 75,000-square-foot expansion.

“No matter what your title or job function, we are all Care Partners,” Harvey says. “There aren’t a lot of companies that have this [kind of] educational track. I think you’ll see more companies move toward this model because now we’re growing from within.”

As a company where more than 90% of employees are people of color, 87% are women and more than 40% are immigrants, A.G. Rhodes intentionally seeks out those individuals to promote. Harvey says one woman from Colombia initially started working in the laundry department but was soon selected for the Leadership Development Program.

“It was an avenue to help her maneuver through a process that might not have been available in another situation,” Harvey says. “Now she’s one of the activities supervisors at [the Cobb] location.”

Cateau is convinced that investing in in-house leadership development creates a sustainable workforce solution.

“Continued investment in your workforce leads to continued success as an organization,” he says. “And in our case, it leads to growth in the organization. The plan is to expand. We need more leaders like her.”