University of Georgia’s Impact on Athens-Clarke County

The Economy of Clarke County certainly gets a boost from the 37,606 University of Georgia

students, but the top employer also has a direct impact on the unemployment rate.

Numbers from December, 2017, show Athens-Clarke County at an unemployment rate of 3.6

percent, according to U.S. BLS data. This is a much lower Percentage compared to the 10.4

percent unemployment rate just seven years ago.

The numbers from the BLS show the massive amount of employment by the University of

Georgia in Clarke County.

The students have an impact on the unemployment rate in Clarke County as well. In one

rare case, a university student and his parents brought more jobs to Athens-Clarke County.

Karim Amor is a new student at The University of Georgia via transfer. Before transferring,

Amor and his parents brought one of their Cloud 9 Smoke and Vape stores to downtown

Athens.

Karim Amor is one of the many college students who find spare time to have a job but also

gives other students opportunities as well. “Most of our employees here are college

students just looking to make some money in their time away from school,” said Amor.

Downtown Athens is a hot spot for a lot of college students looking for a job, according to

Amor. “Downtown has a ton of bars, and almost all the bartenders and bouncers are

students.”

University of Georgia Employee’s Impact

The BLS data shows over 8,000 employees in the education sector of Clarke County from

May, 2017. That does not include the thousands of employees in other sectors such as food

preparation or building and grounds cleaning.

There are many other categories from the BLS data that coincide with major subjects of

learning at the university. Among the major occupations listed on the BLS data are

things like computer and mathematical occupations, and even arts, sports, and media

occupations.

Teacher assistants are listed as an occupation as well, with 860 employees in Athens-Clarke

County, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The University of Georgia has about 7,000 more employees than the next highest

employer (Athens Regional Health System) in Athens-Clarke County.

UGA is a vital institution in the economy of Athens-Clarke County. The University employs

thousands of people in Athens Georgia but also gives many students opportunities to work

around campus.

Here is the audio story portion

https://soundcloud.com/zachary-jones-238854856/usbetcc