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22 7 Federal Reserve Policy The pivot in Federal Reserve policy from a slightly restrictive to an extremely accommodative stance gives a slightly stronger economic push to Georgia than to many other states. That is because Georgians carry relatively more debt and have relatively less savings and there tend to benefit more, on average, from lower interest rates. In addition, interest-sensitive economic sectors (e.g. real estate development, home building, nonresidential construction, building materials manufacturing, and forestry) have a greater impact on Georgia's overall growth than on the nation's overall growth. Economic Development Despite COVID-19, Georgia's economic developers landed more economic development projects in fiscal year 2020 than in fiscal year 2019. Indeed, nine of the ten largest projects announced in the first three quarters of calendar year 2020 were announced after the shutdown began. This success reflects many factors that make Georgia a great state in which to do business. It also helps that Georgia fields an extremely competitive team of economic development professionals who produced outstanding results under the most challenging economic circumstances in modern economic times. Georgia's economic development strategy is very effective, which is the result of a deliberate efforts to adopt or invent best practices. For decades, Georgia's leaders have passed economic development legislation that made Georgia more competitive. Georgia is viewed as a place where there is a good working relationship between state and local governments and other major players. Government is responsive to the needs of businesses, ranking very high in terms of its regulatory environment and speed of permitting. The available supply of skilled labor attracts businesses, especially in the Atlanta MSA. Georgia also ranks high with respect to its workforce development efforts – Quick Start. The state also established 17 HOPE Career Grant areas of study to better align college students' fields of study with companies' workforce needs. Those factors plus Georgia's major transportation and logistical advantages and a competitive tax climate will help to refill Georgia's economic development pipeline. The build out of specialized job training centers – BioScience Training Center and Georgia Cyber Center – is a very effective way to attract and retain businesses that require workers with highly specialized skills. Similarly, the creation of an Aviation Academy in Paulding County will support the aerospace industry's growth. For these and other reasons, in 2020, site consultants ranked Georgia the top state in which to do business for the seventh straight year. As national, state, and regional economic growth resumes, Georgia will find that it is easier to capitalize on its many advantages. That is because the number of expansion and relocation projects that US states are competing for will increase, improving Georgia's prospects for new landing economic development projects that expand the economic base. Because it often takes many years to build out the typical economic development project, many of the projects announced over the last several years will continue to provide a substantial tailwind to Georgia's economic growth in 2021 and beyond. Large economic development projects announced in 2020 include: (1) Microsoft announced that it will open a new facility in Atlanta in summer 2021 that will create 1,500 new high-tech jobs. (2) Home Depot will build three new warehousing facilities in the Atlanta MSA, creating about 1,000 new jobs. (3) Zinus USA announced that it will develop their first North American advanced manufacturing facility in McDonough, creating over 800 jobs. (4) Amazon announced that it will build a fulfilment center in Columbia County, creating 800 jobs. (5) Hello Fresh announced that it would locate it first facility in the U.S. Southeast, bringing over 750 jobs to Coweta County. (6) Deluxe – a Fortune 1000 company – announced that it will establish a new FinTech innovation center and office complex in Sandy Spring that will create over 700 jobs. (7) SK Innovation announced that it would expand its lithium-ion manufacturing plant in Commerce, creating 600 new jobs. This project is in addition to the manufacturing facilities the company is building in Jackson County (announced in late 2018) that will support 2,000 jobs. (8) BANG ENERGY will build a new manufacturing and distribution facility in Lithia Springs that will create 600 jobs. (9) Amazon announced that it will build a new fulfilment center in Coweta County, creating 500 jobs. (10) Milletech Systems announced that it would move its entire enterprise software solutions and services company to Atlanta creating 465 jobs. Another reason Georgia will do well in 2021 is that the US automobile manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly concentrated in the Southeast. When it comes to both distribution and consumer markets, Georgia is in the sweet spot in the middle of the Southern Auto Corridor with proximity to major assembly plants, major suppliers, interstates, ports, and rail. In 2020, SK Innovation will build a battery manufacturing plan in Jackson County that will create 600 jobs. In a closely related move, Enchem announced that it will build two new manufacturing plants in Jackson County, creating