Savannah Chamber

18 4 healthcare services subsector therefore recovered very quickly. In contrast, recovery is slow for nursing and residential care facilities. We expect the number of healthcare jobs in Georgia to increase in 2023. The fast rollout of telemedicine by many traditional healthcare providers made the ambulatory healthcare industry more resilient than either hospitals or nursing and residential care facilities. Due to the essential need for healthcare and favorable demographic trends, the prospects for providers of ambulatory health care are very good. In 2023, we expect providers of nursing and residential care to benefit from an upturn in business that will lead to higher employment. The recovery will not be too vigorous, however, because family members will continue to provide more care to aged and ill relatives at home than prior to the pandemic. On a more optimistic note, the recent runup in home prices gives a higher proportion of homeowners who want to move into nursing and residential care facilities the means to do so. Assuming that the pandemic continues to wind down, hospitals should see a solid, sustainable upturn in demand for their more profitable services. The bottom line is that Georgia's aging population will demand more healthcare services, which broadens the industry's economic recovery to include lagging subsectors – nursing facilities, residential care facilities, and hospitals. Large numbers of baby boomers are reaching the age where the incidence of heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and other care-intensive problems begin to rise rapidly. In essence, the population of persons with multiple chronic health conditions that require ongoing healthcare continues to grow regardless of the vicissitudes of the business cycle or healthcare policy. Of course, there's seemingly intractable disagreement about who will pay the bills, which is a headwind for the healthcare industry's growth. For example, Georgia's nonparticipation in the expanded Medicaid program reduces prospects for the state's healthcare industry, especially rural providers and rural hospitals. Should Georgia decide to fully participate in the expanded program the prospects for the healthcare industry, especially hospitals, would improve significantly. Factors that will encourage providers of high-tech and highly specialized professional services to favor sites in Georgia – especially the Atlanta MSA – include the good business climate, logistical advantages in terms of serving far-flung clients, the available professional workforce, and a large annual output of newly minted college graduates. For example, the Boston Consulting Group's 2020 decision to create a new regional support center in Atlanta reflects the ease of using the area as a geographic hub from which to serve clients throughout the Southeast. Many changes created by the COVID-19 pandemic will generate business for providers of professional services and consultants. For example, the accelerated adoption of high-tech trends generates businesses for providers of high-tech services. Similarly, recent increases in regulations at all levels of government generates business for consultants. Providers of business services that either lower costs or provide necessities should do well in 2023. Activity in Georgia's transportation and logistics industry is cyclical. In 2023, growth will slow due to recessionary conditions. As long as the recession is mild, we expect Georgia's transportation and logistics industry to expand. We expect Georgia's transportation industry to outperform that of the nation as a whole. One state-specific factor behind our relatively sanguine forecast for Georgia's transportation and logistics industry is the abundance of logistics and distribution projects in Georgia's economic development pipeline. Similarly, the build out of recent economic development projects involving the relocation and expansion of manufacturers bodes well for the performance of Georgia's transportation and logistics industry in 2023. Additional state-specific drivers include the outstanding performance of the Port of Savannah and the Port of Brunswick. Improvements in the state's transportation infrastructure will expand the Georgia's importance as a regional and nation logistics and distribution center. Above-average population growth also will benefit Georgia's transportation and logistics industry. The accelerated shift from physical retail to online retail benefitted Georgia's distribution and logistics industry in 2020-21 and will continue to

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