ATLANTA — Despite the rush of negative news about the economy, there’s a silver lining in a new report.
Georgia is the state least exposed to damaging economic impacts from the coronavirus pandemic according to a new analysis by the website, WalletHub.
Georgia is “less exposed to ill-effects from the coronavirus than any other state because it has one of the smallest shares of employment from small business and the second-lowest unemployment increase so far,” said WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez.
While Gonzalez points to the loss in tourism dollars from events like the Masters being postponed, she said Georgia is still in better shape than any other state.
Louisiana, meanwhile, is the state most likely to suffer economic hardships, according to the study. That state relies heavily on tourism and has fewer people working from home.
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But, in order to understand our current economy, it’s important to look back at the last recession.
“Georgia was particularly hard-hit when we had a housing crisis because of a lot of Georgia’s economy revolved around the housing market,” said Emory economics professor Tom Smith.
Since then, Smith said Georgia has diversified its economy. There are more jobs in healthcare and fewer in tourism.
“I could see how the diversification of our economy would insulate us from some of the harshest elements of this recession,” Smith said.
You could also say that Georgia was ready for the sudden shift in work-from-home. Recently, Atlanta was named one of the best cities in the country for telecommuting according to the website Overheard on Conference Calls.
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