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Local Economy Expected to Lag State and Nation in 2025

Columbus State University recently hosted the Georgia 2025 Economic Outlook event on January 30, where academic leaders and researchers provided statewide and local economic forecasts. According to Jordyn Paul-Slater's report on the event for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus isn’t on track to match statewide economic growth. As Paul-Slater reports, Benjamin Ayers, Dean of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, delivered the statewide forecast, and Deborah Kidder, Dean of the Turner College of Business at CSU, provided the forecast for the Columbus region. Current forecasts predict that Georgia's economy will exceed the national economy in 2025. “We do expect Georgia’s economy to grow faster than the U.S. economy in 2025 and beyond,” Ayers said. “One advantage that we have as a state is our economic development prowess. Other advantages include a variable mix of industries, supportive demographic trends, with more and more people moving to our state.” As for Columbus' economy, unemployment rates, population decline and inflation risk are factors stunting local economic growth this year, according to CSU’s Butler Center for Research and Economic Development, which is headed by Turner College economist Fady Mansour. According to Mansour's work, Columbus historically has faced higher unemployment rates compared Georgia and the U.S., and this trend is expected to continue into next year. Unemployment rates in Columbus are expected to be between 4.5% and 4.8% due to inflation expectations, elevated interest rates and labor market conditions, among other reasons. Kidder told the Ledger-Enquirer that Columbus is often overlooked for new economic development. “Everything, for example, like fintech is in Atlanta. Companies go there because everybody’s there,” Kidder said. “We need the same. We need someone to start. And then, that company brings in a supply-chain company, and it grows and multiplies.” Kidder also emphasized that these forecasts are not definitive measures of the future. 


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