A study funded in part by the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority shows that – unless population growth trends change – the region within a one-hour drive of the Hyundai Motor Group complex will fall about 2,200 workers short of the needs of area industries by 2027.
That doesn’t mean the needs of HMG Metaplant America alone, although the electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility under construction at the Joint Development Authority’s nearly 3,000-acre “mega-site” in northern Bryan County is projected to employ 8,500 people after a hiring and production ramp-up lasting several years.
An established major manufacturer in the region, namely Gulfstream Aerospace, and a statewide utility company, Georgia Power, along with the JDA, put up the money for the study conducted by Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting LLC. The study takes into account the needs of existing industries, as well as Hyundai and its suppliers and other new industries building plants in the JDA’s member counties: Bulloch, Bryan, Chatham and Effingham.
Benjy Thompson, CEO of the Development Authority of Bulloch County, speaking to the DABC board members during their Nov. 21 meeting, said “part of the good news” is that more people will move here for newly created jobs.
“We’re not sure if those numbers (census projections used in the study) take into full account the ‘Hyundai effect’ of even more people moving here,” he said. “But we know there will be more people moving here to live, work, play retire – all those things. Unfortunately, even with that growth we may not have enough.”
Tight labor supply
“Overall, labor supply is extremely tight in the region,” was the repeated heading of a series of slides in the PowerPoint presentation summarizing the study. One slide noted that “Much like the U.S. as a whole, the Savannah region is experiencing record low unemployment and is struggling to fill job vacancies.”
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