Savannah Chamber

31 The 2012 establishment of UGA's College of Engineering contributes directly to region's growth through its operating budget, its personnel budget, and student spending. In addition, the College of Engineering contributes in terms of advancing the area's economic development through technology transfer, technical assistance, and research. UGA's newest College already has about 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students. The College of Engineering enhances entrepreneurial development and the climate for innovation. It helps Athens recruit high tech companies and venture capital. Similarly, Athens potential for high-tech development is enhanced by the success of UGA's Computer Science Program, which is one of the fastest growing majors on campus. Athens Technical College also has very strong technology programs. UGA ranks 1 st in the nation for the number of new products brought to market based on university research and UGA ranks 4 th among U.S. universities for the number of new intellectual property licenses to industry. Because domestic economic conditions remain favorable, Athens will benefit from recent and planned activities by many of its existing employers. High-tech employment is expanding the Athens MSA. A cluster of biotechnology industries with links to UGA is gradually developing critical mass, boosting prospects for additional growth of the life- sciences employment in Athens. The Hyatt Place hotel is attached to the Classic Center and will bring more high-end business meeting and special events to the Classic City. More exhibit space at the Classic Center helps Athens attract more and larger conventions and trade shows. With government budgets in fairly good shape, the Classic Center will host more government meetings and will see more attendees from governments at all types of general meetings and conventions. Upgrades to the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel will make the UGA Campus a more attractive place to host academic meetings and conferences. Households and businesses also will spend more on travel in 2018. The economic contribution of the leisure and hospitality industry will grow relative to the overall size of Athens' economy. The growth of the hospitality industry also reflects Athens' successful development as an affordable regional entertainment center, the music and dining scene, college sports, downtown shopping, and many cultural events and attractions. There are some immediate challenge to Athens' growth. The area's very low unemployment rate makes it difficult to fill open positions and can make it difficult to recruit new companies. Another challenge stems from the development of competing retail hubs elsewhere in Northeast Georgia (e.g., the Mall of Georgia and Sugarloaf Mills) as well as the growing share of retail dollars spent online. Athens' role as a major regional hub for retail shopping has been declining for many years and will remain under assault in 2019. The development of the Epps Bridge Center helps to improve the area's appeal as a place to shop, however. Another concern for Athens is that the information, financial activities, and professional and business services industries are undersized relative to the overall size of the area's economy. That will limit the impetus to the region's overall growth from these industries. The information industry has been shrinking relative to the overall size of Athens' economy. Voxpro shut down its call center in 2018. One short-term strength, but long-term concern is that Athens is extremely dependent on state government jobs. State government accounts for 21.4 percent of the MSA's total nonfarm earnings. The very high dependence on state government employment mostly reflects the presence of the University of Georgia. In 2019, that dependence on state spending is a plus because state revenue collections are on the upswing. However, it does make Athens vulnerable to future efforts to downsize state government. Overtime, increasing obligations for Medicaid and state government retirees' benefits will crowd out state spending for higher education. On the other hand, Athens' shares of federal and local government jobs are significantly below the state average. In addition, the MSA has almost no direct dependence on military spending. Therefore, Athens is not overly vulnerable future efforts to downsize either the federal government or local governments. Of course, Athens will not be immune to future efforts to rein in federal spending. For example, tight federal budgets could restrict the amount of federal grant money that UGA is able to attract. Population growth plus an expanding number of students bodes well for the residential real estate market. In terms of new single-family construction, the homebuilding upturn began in 2010 and gained traction in 2011-2013, lost ground in 2014, but regained traction in 2015-2018. The fast-growing single-family homebuilding industry's prospects look

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