Savannah Chamber

27 10 Due to job growth and the housing recovery, geographic mobility turned up in 2014. As net domestic and net international migration increased, Georgia's population began to grow more quickly. In 2015-19, corporate relocations and expansions brought more people to Georgia. Higher migration to Georgia will persist in 2020. The nationwide recovery in home prices gives retirees the wherewithal and confidence to move to Sunbelt states such as Georgia. Georgia's population will grow at a pace that exceeds the national average in 2020 – 1.0 percent for Georgia versus 0.6 percent for the U.S. More specifically, domestic net migration will continue to recover. It rose to 23,419 people in 2014, up from a net loss of 5,471 people in 2013. Domestic net migration rose to 33,086 in 2015, to 37,979 in 2016, to 40,388 in 2017, to 41,914 in 2018; and to an estimated 43,500 in 2019. Georgia is a very attractive destination for mid-career movers. Georgia also does very well when it comes to attracting top-career movers and retirees. Georgia's higher rate of population growth also is dependent on net international migration of about 25,000 people. Foreign-born account for about 10 percent of the state's population, up from 7.1 percent in 2000 and 2.7 percent in 1990. Georgia's population growth should benefit from an increase in number of births. Population growth therefore will be a strong driver of Georgia's GDP in 2020, but probably no stronger than in 2019. Georgia's Greatest Weakness: Relatively Low Educational Achievement Georgia needs to adjust its priorities to put much greater emphasis on educational achievement. That will be critical in terms of improving Georgia's productivity and competitiveness, which ultimately determines Georgians' standard of living. Success in recruiting new business and industry and retaining existing industry increasingly is dependent on the availability of labor that is qualified to utilize the latest advanced technologies. The goal is to generate a virtuous cycle of growth whereby policies that increase the supply of skilled labor will stimulate labor demand as the additional supply of skilled workers attracts employers with skilled jobs. Offering customized training is proving to be a very effective way to recruit new industry and ensure that existing businesses expand in Georgia. That is because unemployment rates in most of the places that typically send people to Georgia are very low, which reduces the push factor when it comes to state-to-state migration of people looking for jobs. The challenge is immense: Georgia trails many other states when it comes to educational achievement, especially for K-12 education. K-12 Education is probably the state's greatest economic weakness, and it contributes to Georgia's relatively low productivity and low per capita income. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2017 data), Georgia's eighth graders rank 31st among the states in math and 27 th in reading. In math, only 31 percent of Georgia's eighth graders are proficient or better. In reading, only 35 percent of Georgia's eighth graders are proficient or better. Ultimately, in a flat world a failure to educate our children lowers Georgia's relative standard of living. That is definitely showing up in the incoming data. After rising for decades, per capita person income in Georgia peaked at 95% of the U.S. average in 1999. Since then we have seen an almost continuous slide of per capita income in Georgia relative to the U.S. The data for 2018 clock per capita person income in Georgia at only 85 percent of the national average. We dropped 16 places in the national rankings from 26 th highest per capita personal income in 1999 to 40th in 2018. For Georgia's economy to outperform the average state's economy by the large margins that we got used to in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, we need to improve Georgia's competitiveness by improving educational achievement. The culture of the state must change in ways that put a higher priority on core subjects such as math, reading, writing, and science. For grades K-8, more in-school time devoted to these core areas might help. Career academies and more internships might boost student achievement at the high school level. Georgia is one of the most generous states in the nation in providing state-funded financial aid to postsecondary education students, but Georgia is one of only two states lacking a statewide need-based financial aid program. Georgia could increase postsecondary education attainment by providing a state-sponsored, well-funded student financial aid program that provides aid to low-and middle-income Georgians who meet all admissions requirements, but do not qualify for merit-based financial aid. Relatively low educational achievement is Georgia's greatest weakness and is probably the main reason why Georgia's per capita income, productivity, and innovation ecosystem are below average. Doing a better job educating our people will go a long way towards assuring that Georgia's economic performance remains among the best in the nation. It would improve the climate for innovation, stimulating innovation-based economic growth. In the 21 st century,

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