After the COVID-19 related economic downturn of 2020, Augusta’s business and industry seem to be bouncing back, and officials hope the trend continues into 2022.
Tourism is up as of late according to Destination Augusta’s Bennish Brown, and sectors such as cyber have room to grow.
Cal Wray, director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, said the Georgia Cyber Center has room for additional expansion.
“There is enough room for a couple more buildings,” Wray said. “Without COVID-19, I think the third building would already be under construction.”
The AEDA director envisions at least one more building being built, potentially even larger than the first two buildings as the area continues to grow as a cyber hub.
Various office space developments have been proposed and approved in the CSRA throughout the pandemic. Wray believes that the current uncertainty will eventually give way to demand for the space.
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“As cyber continues to develop here, we will eventually need more space. There is only so much room at Fort Gordon. You can’t put every contractor and every support person on post,” Wray said. “COVID-19 has delayed development because people don’t know if they have to factor in distancing with their plans. But eventually, we will need it.”
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As Augusta’s cyber footprint continues to grow, Wray foresees more and more industry-adjacent partners moving to the area with new people needing a place to live and things to do.
“How do we give them more places to live? How do we make it a better place to live? And what are the events and concerts we can offer here to keep people from having to travel to Atlanta or Columbia or Charlotte?” Wray said. “We will need to provide those to our citizens as well as people we want to attract to live here and work here.”
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Wray hopes Richmond and Columbia counties continue to work together to improve the region, but labor is still the biggest concern.
“Workforce is still going to be a major issue, as well as the training programs and skillset training we make available to people,” Wray said. “And this will probably be a challenge for us for the next 10 years as this area continues to grow.”
At an Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce event in September, Wray sat along a panel of community leaders that included Augusta Tech president Dr. Jermaine Whirl, Brittany Burnett, president of the United Way of the CSRA, and Mary Hayes, founder of WorkBay, to discuss how to diagnose and alleviate workforce shortages.
At the time, Wray said that of the 202,000 people in Richmond County, 34,000 were not in the labor force and not looking for a job. Now, Wray says, the unemployment rate on a local level has been steadily ticking down, but the numbers from the workforce discussion are still similar.
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He attributed the rise of COVID-19 variants and the benefits cliff as two key factors in barring people from entering the workforce.
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“We had delta and then we had omicron. That is a factor,” he said. “And we have the benefits cliff. Benefits fall under certain guidelines and every situation is different, which makes it difficult.”
The benefits cliff, as defined by benefitscliff.com, occurs when people receive public benefits from the government, start a new job or earn a raise at their job, and then discover that they make too much money to receive the benefits. Without the government benefits, they do not make enough money to sustain themselves and their household with the work wages alone.
The issue in combating the benefits cliff is that the bar for each person’s livable wage level is a moving target, individualized based on one’s assistance from federal programs, their wages (if they are an active member of the workforce) and their bills.
At the Chamber of Commerce event, both Wray and Whirl talked about the benefits cliff as an under-mentioned but damaging effect on the workforce, especially for lower income citizens.
On the brighter side, two major industry partnerships that will bring job openings into the area are still on-track.
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PureCycle, a sustainable plastics recycler, and Aurubis, a metal recycling and smelting operation, both announced plans to establish large-scale operations in the Augusta Corporate Park located off Mike Padgett Highway.
“Both should begin in second quarter of 2022,” Wray said. “Aurubis is applying for permits, and their construction should start in the summer.”
Wray said PureCycle’s construction should start along a similar timeline, and the plant should be fully operational by the end of 2022. Likewise, Aurubis should begin operating around the same time.
The two companies join Starbucks in the Augusta Corporate Park and represent a nearly $800 million investment into the CSRA with more auxiliary industries sure to crop up around them in the future.
“Our activity is still very strong from an industrial standpoint,” Wray said. “Even with those two big announcements, we haven’t slowed down one bit.”
Wray said that a new area of development for manufacturing and industrial, similar to Columbia County’s White Oak Business Park — where Amazon now has a large presence — is the number one priority for Augusta-Richmond County.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
