ATL Needs To Keep Students, Lure More Workers
With up to 80,000 new jobs coming to Metro Atlanta this year, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's chief economic watchdog, Dr. Thomas Cunningham, told attendees at our Atlanta 2016 Forecast earlier this week things are looking good.
Thomas said he expects 2016 to look as prosperous as last year, though he warned the audience of more than 300 commercial real estate pros that Atlanta's longer-term challenge will be migration. On average, Atlanta's labor force grows by 3.5% a year, while the US overall grows by half a percent.
He also says leaders need to figure out how to retain the 250,000 college students here, instead of losing them to other cities that are actively targeting them. “That's what's going to be the ultimate risk to the metro area.”
