Hello Teri,
It’s clear from the clarification of your question that you’ve done a
lot of research on Chatham County and that you are frustrated that you
haven’t been able to find a simple answer for why it’s losing
population. You know the basic economic picture and understand the
classes of major employers. You propose that reviewing how well the
biggest employers are doing might give you the information you need.
You’ve also concluded that the comparison of 1990 and 2000 census data
for demographics and housing would help.
CENSUS INFORMATION – POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHICS
I think you’re on the right track and I did a lot of research on the
statistics you request for Chatham County communities.
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=11
The ePodunk Web site is wonderful for reviewing demographic data. It
provides links that help you drill down from State to County to
Community level and gives you Census, Economy and Environment
resources to help you get more and more specific information.
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=7852
Chatham County – This page gives you the summary information for the
county and provides links for communities, including Garden City,
Pooler and Port Wentworth. I could not find anything for Wilmington
Island and discovered that there are two Georgetowns in Georgia – one
in Quitman County and the other in Glynn County.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=&city=Georgetown&state=GA
The census information confirms that Chatham county is losing
population. The challenge is to find out why.
http://www.gadata.org/Information_Services/GeorgiaPopulationTrends%201990%20to%202000.htm
Georgia Population Trends 1990 to 2000
This is an article that discusses in detail the major population
trends. Georgia was 6th in population growth nationwide in absolute
numbers and exceeded 20%. In contrast, Chatham County population
growth for the past thirty years has been close to zero. The article
also discusses racial and age related trends.
http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/popc/pc13051.htm
Chatham County, GA -- Population and Components of Change
This table shows birth and death rates as well as international
immigration and domestic migration rates. The last is the most
interesting. People are leaving Chatham County.
http://www.fairus.org/html/msas/042gacha.htm
This Web page gives you some excellent graphics highlighting these
changes with special emphasis on the foreign immigration numbers.
http://www.hablamosjuntos.org/latinos/statetable.asp?st=georgia
This is a table of the growth rates in Hispanic population. Chatham
grew by 94% from 1990 to 2000.
http://www.digicide.net/
This Web site gives you the racial demographics numbers in a summary
that helps you compare US, Georgia, Chatham County and Savannah raw
numbers and per cents. Chatham County and Savannah non-white
populations are 44.7% and 61.1% respectively. compared to 34.9 for
Georgia.
CENSUS INFORMATION – ECONOMIC INDICATORS
After looking at the population trends I next looked at general
economic indicators. These gave a fairly mixed picture.
http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97/ga/GA051.HTM
1997 Economic Census: -- Summary Statistics for Chatham County, GA
The Economic Census profiles the US economy every 5 years, from the
national to the local level. Last census available is 1997 and the
2002 Economic Census is underway.
This site gives you detailed information for industries and subsectors
showing the number of people employed in each. You can get state
economic reports broken down by county or metro areas. You already
seem familiar with this resource.
http://www.dol.state.ga.us/lmi/profiles/1999/chatham.pdf
Georgia Department of Labor – Area Labor Force Profile
This site has some good graphs illustrating Chatham County labor
market information. Chatham county unemployment tends to be slightly
higher than the state average.
http://www.selig.uga.edu/forecast/GBEC/gbec111201.pdf
Georgia Business and Economic Conditions
See Region 12, Coastal Georgia (see page 14 and following)
This report shows that not only did Chatham County have a much lower
population growth rate than most of the state but also lagged greatly
in employment growth and the growth of purchasing power.
http://www.shamon.com/gp/poverty.htm
What does Poverty look like in Savannah/Chatham
This article discusses poverty rates and purchasing power in Chatham
County.
PLACES RATED AND COMMUNITY LIVABILITY
All of this information is interesting but it doesn’t specifically
tell you why people are leaving Chatham County. I took another tack to
try to come to some conclusions on this by taking a look at what makes
places desirable.
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/godc/resguide/places.htm
Places Rated: -- A Research Guide
This is a wonderful collection of resources for exploring how places
are rated.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dicook/stat407/mynotes/subsubsection3_3_1_1.html
Places Rated Data
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dicook/stat407/mynotes/subsubsection3_3_1_1.html
The nine rating criteria used by Places Rated Almanac are: Climate and
Terrain, Housing, Health Care and Environment, Crime, Transportation,
Education, The Arts, Recreation, Economics.
http://www.stls.frb.org/publications/re/1999/b/re1999b4.html
'Voting with Your Feet' and Metro-Area Livability
This article presents the radical idea that people leave places that
are not desirable and that the scales used in the various “places
rated” surveys don’t take a rational approach. Finally, this article
is addressing the issues you’re trying to explore with your question.
http://www.scs.unt.edu/classes/CSAG/5790/001/CmtyVisioning/com_visioning_handbook2.htm
Setting the Stage: How to Begin a Community Visioning Project
“During the 1980's, Chatham County, Georgia, and its largest city,
Savannah, were splitting along a number of seams at once. Voters
defeated an important school bond referendum; the central business
district was deteriorating; and economic growth was weak. In addition,
there were substantial tensions between Savannah and the other towns
in the county, as well as more general tensions of race and class.”
This quote highlights some of the hidden factors that might be at play
in why people are leaving Chatham County.
I suggest that you should define which of the community livability
criteria are most important to you and then proceed with your
explorations.
COMPANY AND INDUSTRY INFORMATION
http://www.savannahbusiness.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/July/01-6097-realestate1.txt
http://www.savannahbusiness.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/July/01-6097-realestate1.txt
July 01, 2002 -- Savannah's Growth: Speculating on the Future
This article reviews trends with specific geographic considerations.
http://www.savannahbusiness.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/September/10-3067-other2.txt
September 10, 2002 -- A Round-up of Our Region's Economic Indicators
This article is a mostly positive review of current economic trends.
http://www.savannahchamber.com/economic/majoremployers.shtml
Savannah Chamber of Commence – Economic Development
This is a nice table showing Major Employers – Name, Service/Product,
# Employees
http://www.porttechnology.org/industry.news/2002/mainnews/01.03.01.shtml
Port Of Savannah Continues Record Pace
The Port of Savannah is the fastest growing port in North America.
http://frp.aysps.gsu.edu/frp/frpreports/report_64/Rpt64text.pdf
Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Fiscal Research Program
Employment Trends in Georgia Border Counties
See page 31 for employment loss statistics by industrial sector
http://www.savannahbusiness.com/display/inn_front/Front_Stories/front1.txt
Pooler Wins Massive Van Plant -- But DaimlerChrysler Isn't Exactly
Saying So
Many investors and developers have commented on their perception that
Chatham County can be a difficult place to do business. A sense that
the rules are unpredictable will heighten that feeling.
http://www.savannahbusiness.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/January/28-2545-manufacuting2.txt
January 28, 2002
Fate of Port Wentworth Jobs Up in Air With Willamette Industries'
Takeover
http://www.savannahbusiness.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/January/14-2419-mfg2.txt
January 14, 2002
Another 150 Jobs Disappear at IP's Savannah Mill
http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/archive/news_releases/gtrep-groundbreaking.html
ATLANTA (June 10, 2002) -- Georgia Tech and the Savannah Economic
Development Authority (SEDA) will break ground Monday, June 17 on a
new academic and research campus to house the hub facilities for the
Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program (GTREP), which offers
students in southeast Georgia the opportunity to earn an engineering
degree from Georgia Tech without leaving the area.
Teri, I hope that this gives you the information you need to decide
about your plans to move to Chatham County. I’ll be happy to answer
any questions you may have regarding the issues we’ve explored.
Good luck.
czh |
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