It’s that time of the year when we take a look to see how our economy is performing. With employment rates, home price indices, building permits, and more, The Quarter can help us identify what areas of our economy are striving and what areas are slower to recover. Check out the highlights below and take a visual look with our data dashboard!
All Sectors Employment Year-Over-Year % Change: Construction increased in year-over-year change between January and August, and ended up on top AGAIN with a 7.0% year-over-year change from August 2015 to August 2016. At 5.8%, Leisure had the 2nd highest year-over-year change, just behind Construction. Information was the only sector to have a negative year-over-year change at -2.0% as of August 2016.
Metro Atlanta continues to outrank the U.S. in total employment year-over-year change. Although recently ticking downward, metro Atlanta’s economy is showing resiliency. Its year-over-year total employment YOY change has decreased slightly from 3.2% in January to 2.7% in August. The U.S. YOY change as a whole has decreased from 1.9% in January to 1.7% in August.
Employment- Percent Change from Pre-Recession Peak: In May, Metro Atlanta had a 7.1% change from the pre-recession peak- which is a slight bit down from the highest pre-recession change since the pre-recession peak (the 8.5% in December 2015).
Monthly Building Permits: Monthly building permits in Metro Atlanta have decreased from 3,767 permits in February to 2,617 permits in July.
County Building Permits: Barrow, Cherokee, Cobb, and Fulton (excluding City of Atlanta) had fewer building permits in 2015 than they did in 2014. The remaining counties (of the 20) had more permits in 2015. Gwinnett, Fulton (without Atlanta), Forsyth, and the City of Atlanta have seen the most building permits through July of 2016.
ATL Case-Shiller: Atlanta’s most recent Case-Shiller Index is 132.49- its highest index score since the recession. When compared to metros in the 20-metro Composite, metro Atlanta ranks 8th in Home Price percentage change since the pre-recession peak.
CoStar: Office and Retail: Office Net Absorption totals have decreased between 2015 Q4 and 2016 Q3 while Retail Buildings under Construction have increased during that period. The vacancy rates have also decreased between the quarters.
Special Topic: Top Job Postings in metro Atlanta (Last 90 Days): In the past 90 days, there have been 9,604 job postings for Heavy Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers making it the most in- demand occupation over the last three months. Registered nurses have had 7,874 postings, making it the 2nd most in- demand job. Software Developers and Retail Salesperson postings rank 3rd and 4th in the last 90 days.