Georgia Manufacturing Vital Signs
Manufacturing Jobs Declining, Earnings Up, Wage Gap
Decreases
Manufacturing employment in Georgia declined for the second quarter
in a row. The number of manufacturing jobs in Georgia, which totaled 591,030 in September
1999, dropped by 0.3 percent between the second and third quarters of 1999. This decline
is roughly the same as that experienced by the nation and the Southeast. (See Chart 4.1) Florida, Kentucky, and Louisiana were the only
Southeastern states with an increase in manufacturing jobs in the third quarter of 1999.
Georgia's apparel and textile, fabricated metal and products, and transportation equipment
industries experienced the largest declines in number of employees between the second and
third quarters of 1999.
Average hourly earnings for manufacturing employees in Georgia rose in
the third quarter of 1999 to $12.59 per hour. Hourly manufacturing wages were up over 5
percent compared to one year ago. However, Georgia wages were still $1.41 below the
national average (compared to $1.45 in the second quarter of 1999) and slightly below the
third- quarter average for the Southeast ($12.63). The gap between Georgia and U.S.
manufacturing wages decreased slightly in the third quarter of 1999 compared to the second
quarter of 1999.
Electronic Commerce Has Caught on Among Georgia
Manufacturers
Use of electronic commerce technologies and techniques among Georgia manufacturers has
increased dramatically in the last two-and-a-half years, but small firms lag behind larger
companies in such usage, according to the latest Georgia Manufacturing Survey. The survey
shows that 68 percent of responding manufacturers use e-mail (compared to 38 percent in
1996), 59 percent have a Web site (compared to 16 percent in 1996), and 22 percent engage
in online ordering and selling (compared to 11 percent in 1996). It took just one year for
Web site use to go from 5 percent to 25 percent penetration in the state, compared with 7
to 12 years for manufacturing technologies such as computer-aided design or computer
numerical control. (See Chart 4.2)
Among manufacturers with fewer than 50 employees, the numbers run
slightly less for e-mail and Web use, but are much lower for other types of e-commerce
technologies. For example, only 19 percent of small manufacturers place orders and sell to
customers compared to nearly 50 percent of large manufacturers.
Chart 4.2
Small Manufacturers Lag Behind Large Manufacturers in Use of Electronic Commerce
Technologies
