Chilly global currents are likely to cool Georgia's economic growth, according to a forecast released Wednesday by the Georgia State University Economic Forecasting Center.
Job growth will slow through 2018, according to the quarterly analysis by Rajeev Dhawan, director of the center.
"Our manufacturers and exporters sent almost $40 billion of goods to the global marketplace last year," Dhawan wrote in the report to be issued at the center's conference today.
Of the nation’s largest public companies, 18 are headquartered in Georgia and most of those rely heavily on business overseas, according to Dhawan.
Among the issues roiling the international economy are the British exit from the European Union, China’s stall-out and the oil-price turmoil in the Middle East, he wrote.
The U.S. economy grew as just a 1.2 percent pace in the last quarter. The center had previously predicted slower growth.
Among Dhawan’s latest forecast figures:
— An addition of 98,000 jobs in Georgia this year.
— Statewide growth slowing to 75,100 jobs next year and 69,800 in 2018.
— Metro Atlanta, as usual, will account for more than half the growth, adding 65,700 jobs this year, 54,600 jobs next year and 52,300 jobs in 2018.
— Atlanta’s home-building will finish this year with a 20.8 percent increase. However, permits for construction will drop next year 3.3 percent.
Nominal income – that is, not adjusted for inflation – will keep rising overall at about a 5 percent-a-year pace. However, but the vast majority of new jobs will not pay well.
The center's calculations project fewer than 18 percent of the new jobs paying more than $50,000.
