5 Questions for This Labor Day in Georgia

Labor Day is the one holiday built entirely around work. We ironically mark it with a day off, but the underlying idea is serious: Americans decided a long time ago that showing up and doing a job deserves recognition.

Georgia has more people showing up than ever. The state has averaged roughly a million new residents per decade, and they are not just coming for the weather. They are coming because Georgia has spent decades building a competitive economy that rewards honest labor.

The total value of that paycheck, though, is not determined by the employer alone. There are also necessities like paying taxes, what it costs to live near the job, the barrier to entry for work, and the cost of healthcare when someone in the family gets sick.

How much do you keep?

Georgia’s income tax rate dropped to 4.99% this year, three years ahead of the original schedule, with further annual steps toward a 3.99% floor scheduled if revenue targets are met. But our neighbors are still moving fast, and two of them have eliminated their income tax entirely. North Carolina is already at 3.99%, while Alabama’s top rate stands at 5%. South Carolina cut its top rate to 5.21% this year and built in a mechanism for further reductions when revenue growth is strong.

Can you afford to live near the job?

A strong job market is not much use to someone who cannot afford to live within reach of it. Georgia has a housing supply shortage, and supply is throttled by how long it takes to get permission to build. Regulation adds a six-figure sum to the price of a typical new home, and permitting delays alone can run into the thousands on a typical Georgia house.

Lawmakers took steps to address the problem this year. Senate Bill 447, signed in May, strengthens the 45-day review window, requires local governments to give clear reasons for denials and puts permit status online in the state’s busiest jurisdictions.

Are you allowed to do the work?

A license requirement is a barrier between a person and a job. Some of them are justified, but many are the residue of industries blocking competition to protect themselves. Georgia imposes 117 occupational licenses and restricts work through 158 separate licensing barriers, which puts the state near the middle of the pack compared to the rest of the country, with a lot of room to improve.

This year’s Senate Bill 553 reorganized construction-trade licensing and created clearer paths for electrical workers, plumbers and other contractors, and workers with criminal records can now ask for a predetermination of eligibility before spending years on training they may not be able to use. Georgia also recognizes licenses earned in other states, which matters enormously to the military families and other new arrivals we continue to attract.

Can you get care when you need it?

Over 5 million Georgians receive health insurance through their employer. But more access to healthcare is also a labor issue. A worker in one of the dozens of Georgia counties without an OB/GYN is losing days of work she cannot get back. Georgia’s certificate of need laws let existing providers block competitors from opening facilities, and patients in CON states wait longer and travel farther for care. The workforce shortage is the other half, and it will not fix itself without changes to how we license and deploy clinicians.

Do your kids get a real shot?

Every one of the above concerns adults who are already working. A long-term question is the one about their children. The Georgia Promise Scholarship, the state’s education savings account program, gives families zoned to the lowest-performing 25% of public schools $6,500 a year to spend on private school tuition, tutoring, therapy or other education costs.

In year one, more than 20,000 families applied and about 7,700 qualified. Lawmakers read that gap as weak demand and cut the program from $141 million to $100 million for this fiscal year. The more obvious reading is that three families wanted in for every one the eligibility rules let through. Expanding the program will be a priority in 2027.

None of what makes Georgia attractive to workers happened by accident, and none of it is self-sustaining. It was built through a long series of deliberate choices made by people who understood that the state is competing with 49 others to be the best state for business.