BUSINESS PROFILE
Buzz-ness helps those exploring beekeeping ► PAGE 6
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Cloudy conditions cast broad shadow over state economy
Commissioners approved a $1.1 million contract with Vertical Earth for the project. Located at the site of the former Barker “spaceship house” at Sawnee Mountain Preserve, the site will feature a picnic plaza, historical information about the house and educational signage about local geography. Once dubbed the county’s most unique home, the Barker House was a flying-saucer-shaped residence designed by architect Jim Barker. Demolished in 2017, the house was located at an elevation of about 1,960 feet.
ATLANTA — Georgia is enduring its share of fallout from federal layoffs and spending cuts, less tourism from abroad to a pullback in film and TV spending by big Hollywood studios. But the state’s multifaceted economy is also benefiting from a boom in data center construction, continued inmigration of retirees, and an expected boost to the aerospace industry due to European NATO nations pledging to boost defense spending in coming years, according to Rajeev Dhawan of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Dhawan delivered the semi-annual forecast during his Aug. 28 conference. Job additions in calendar year 2024 totaled 41,900, much lower than the 66,800 jobs added in 2023. This pace was incidentally half of the rate of job creation seen from 2017 to 2019. In the first half of 2025 the state added only 11,700 jobs. The biggest reason for this sharp slowdown and anemic job growth performance, Dhawan said, is the stress seen in the DHAWAN white-collar, middle-management, servicesector jobs that are battling AI advances, iffy world economic growth, and the changing focus of film-and-television production, where notably Marvel Studios has pulled up stakes for London. Revenue growth in the first half of 2025 for Delta Air Lines, the state’s largest private employer with a big footprint in international travel, was an anemic 1.0 percent, with coach ticket sales dropping by 3.6 percent. “The breadand-butter of middle-class jobs in three well-paying service sectors — corporate, information technology (including specialized movie production) and wholesale (B2B) — constitute almost one-fourth of the state’s employment base and have lost more than 37,000 jobs since Jan. 2023,” Dhawan said. Following Dhawan’s “Triangle of Money” logic, the impact of anemic job growth in high-paying service sectors that affects consumer spending is also evident in the rate of
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JON WILCOX/APPEN MEDIA
Stacy Navarrete, Steven Russell, center, and Nico Russell enjoy a day at the Indian Seats vantage point at Sawnee Mountain Preserve Sept. 7.
County approves park project By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Outdoor enthusiasts are getting a new perspective on Forsyth County. At its Sept. 4 meeting, the Forsyth County Commission progressed a project to give hikers access to the highest point in the county. The Barker Overlook project will provide visitors with a hike-in, hike-out trail to a mountaintop where, on a clear day, they can see as far as Brasstown Bald, Yonah Mountain, Dahlonega and Sharp Mountain.
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