It was not quite a year ago when Amazon launched its search for a second global headquarters location.  Visions of landing up to 50,000 new high paying jobs have established a quest from Governors, Mayors, Chambers of Commerce in an economic development super bowl. 

The eventual winner gets huge bragging rights, but will have to bid high and strategically to make that happen.  It’s these potential incentives that have grab equal attention.  With the Republican party being consumed by populism on the right and the Democrats heavily courting socialist interests on the left, the billions being dangled for one of the country’s most prosperous corporations is not without critics. 

We’ll save the debate for the overall incentive package if and when Georgia’s package is revealed.  Most criticism levied against the project from within the peach state, at least that which has hit my inbox, has come from folks who live outside metro Atlanta.  It can be summed up as “What about us?”

Amazon’s RFP for HQ2 was fairly specific as to the size of the metro area they would consider, as well as available services such as public transit and proximity to international airports.  Atlanta compares favorably to their bid criteria.  Other Georgia cities and rural Georgia, not so much.

It’s perfectly natural for Georgians outside of the metro area to see the excitement building of state leaders pledging to do whatever is necessary to land Amazon and wonder what if the same attention were paid to them.  The question has been asked more than once “What if the state took all that money they’re planning to give to Amazon and put it into recruiting smaller companies that would locate in rural Georgia?”

The concerns are valid, but the premise is wrong.  Their assumption is that this quest is an either/or proposition.  The evidence shows quite the contrary.

At any one time, the Georgia Department of Economic Development is working dozens of potential deals.  They don’t usually talk specifics until a deal closes or the prospect chooses another state.  Amazon is quite different as the company chose to issue a public Request for Proposal.  Most companies prefer anonymity in the process.

Success, as well as the statistics of who Georgia is assisting, is found in the companies we have been able to land.  The numbers show that companies that relocated or expanded with the help of the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce Division have gone disproportionately to areas outside of metro Atlanta, and by a wide margin.

In FY 2017, 80% of the companies successfully assisted by the state’s Economic Development arm went to companies located outside of the ten county metro Atlanta area.  For FY18 that ended in June, the number was 78%.  Roughly speaking, four out of five economic development success stories have happened outside of Atlanta.

Don’t feel bad for Atlanta. It’s a region with half the state’s population, and continues to grow rapidly.  It has the capacity to absorb Amazon, and the many other companies choosing to expand or relocate there. 

Most of these, however, aren’t game changing announcements.  Even the initial 5,000 jobs expected from a potential HQ2 would be just .1% of the Atlanta region’s population. The impact of these announcements in rural Georgia, however, often make a greater impact to areas with higher unemployment and little if any population growth. 

Looking through the press releases by the Department of Economic Development shows 130 jobs to Monroe County, 130 jobs to Albany, 500 jobs to Whitfield County, 100 jobs to Jackson County, an expansion of a plant in Ware County, 300 jobs in Bainbridge, and 2 deals bringing 300 jobs to Gordon County …all in the last few months.  That’s just the announcements in rural Georgia, omitting the success stories that have occurred for Macon, Columbus, Augusta, and metro Atlanta during the same period.

The point of this isn’t to say that rural Georgia is doing just fine and that economic development is the same as it is in Atlanta.  There’s still a lot of work to do in some areas to diversify the economic base and attract next-generation employers. 

The state, however, isn’t ignoring rural Georgia in its quest to land trophy headquarters operations in Atlanta.  It’s fighting for every available job, in every corner of the state, every day.

Charlie Harper is the publisher of GeorgiaPol.com and the Executive Director of PolicyBEST, which focuses on policy issues of Business Climate, Education, Science & Medicine, and Transportation