The economy in Georgia, including Augusta, will be robust in 2015 – at least that is the prediction of economists who spoke at the Augusta Marriott Thursday afternoon.

The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business – one of the leading businesses colleges in the country – has been touring the state with its Economic Outlook series and made the stop in Augusta on Thursday.

“I’m more upbeat about Augusta’s prospects than at any time I can remember,” said Mark Vitner, managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo. “There’s a lot of potential for upside surprises.”

The numbers for Augusta look good, with an increase of 9,000 jobs. But Vitner said that isn’t accurate. A year ago, the predictors had shown a job growth lower than it actually was, making this year’s numbers inflated.

The Georgia Outlook Report instead predicts a job growth rate of 2.1 percent for Augusta, still an addition of 4,600 jobs.

“When you get away from the numbers and look at what’s happening in Augusta, it’s hard to not get excited about it,” Vitner said.

He was especially pleased with efforts toward downtown development.

“Downtown development is happening all over the country,” he said. “I think it’s a byproduct of social media. Downtown development does especially well if there is water to build around.”

Things aren’t quite as rosy on the South Carolina side of the CSRA, where there hasn’t been job growth for three years.

The outlook for Georgia as a state continues on a fast track upward.

“For the second straight year Georgia will outpace the United States in both GDP and in job growth,” said Dr. Benjamin Ayers, dean of the Terry College of Business.

Georgia’s GDP for 2015 is expected to be 3.3 percent and job growth 2.4 percent. He also expects Georgia’s unemployment rate to drop by a full percentage point.

“The good news is that there are absolutely no signs of runaway inflation,” Ayers said.

He expects inflation to be a miniscule 0.4 percent in 2015, a sharp drop even from 2014’s modest 1.6 percent.

Ayers also believes the chances of seeing another recession this year are slim.

“The reason for our optimism is the higher rate of job creation in the private sector,” he said.

The fastest-growing industries in Georgia in 2015 will be construction, professional and business services, mining and logging, health services, transportation and the emerging field of health information technology.

Lagging behind will be jobs in government, information and financial activities.

The one potential fly in the ointment for Augusta and Georgia as a whole is the heavy impact of the military. Should the federal government go into sequestration again, cuts in federal spending could hit the military bases – and their surrounding communities – hard.

“If there are federal spending cuts to the military, Georgia would be hit twice as hard as other states,” Ayers said.

Other factors that could mitigate the predicted growth are capital availability to entrepreneurs and any shifts in the Federal Reserve policies. 

This article was orginally published on Buzz on Biz.