Currently, there are over 700,000 small businesses registered in Georgia. Georgia, a state of 10 million people, also is one of the largest exporters of aerospace manufacturing and machinery. Within the last year, Georgia ranked in the top ten for technology industry, motion picture, innovation, and other small businesses. Of those, 97% have fewer than 100 employees according to the Georgia Department of Labor (Q2 2017). The pathway to economic empowerment has three primary routes to strengthening Georgia’s economic base while building upon past success.
Currently, there are over 700,000 small businesses registered in Georgia. Georgia, a state of 10 million people, also is one of the largest exporters of aerospace manufacturing and machinery. Within the last year, Georgia ranked in the top ten for technology industry, motion picture, innovation, and other small businesses. Of those, 97% have fewer than 100 employees according to the Georgia Department of Labor (Q2 2017). The pathway to economic empowerment has three primary routes to strengthening Georgia’s economic base while building upon past success.
As Congresswoman for Georgia’s 7th District, Lisa Noel Babbage will help:
One economic purpose is to increase manufacturing operations in the areas of acrylic polymers, aluminum alloys, contact lenses, motor vehicle parts, and the like in the form of small businesses that are part of Babbage’s Trade Out Program, in order to increase labor-based jobs in rural communities (specifically Pelham, Unadilla, Morgan, Wrightsville, Abbeville, and Garden City, Georgia). Current relationships include top manufacturers Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, and BASF.
The Trade Out Program partners with minimum and medium security state prisons and existing manufacturing companies to train non-violent offenders with trades that will provide inmates with sustainable options upon release as well as condensing sentences for those with eligibility for parole while expanding Georgia’s current primary exports that are scalable to the small business format.
Secondly, offer tax incentives for the motion picture industry, women-owned businesses, and tech industries in order to sustain current economic trends in those industries. Creating attractive opportunities for growth industries empowers Georgians to diversify income generating options for a variety of skills and abilities. To meet the growing demands of businesses in these fields, a proposal to include growth minded industries into enrollment opportunities for juniors and seniors in high school as well as offering similar programs in technical and vocational schools, will help meet the needs of these industries by strengthening the qualified job pool in our communities. Georgia will continue to innovate small businesses in aerospace, agribusiness, energy technology, FinTech, information technology, and logistics within incentivized programs which draw and strengthen these industries.
The third means by which economic empowerment is sustained in Georgia is by negotiating an incentivizing pay differentials for women and ethnically disenfranchised Georgians in our largest industries. As our nation continues to strive toward equal pay for performance and accessibility for all Americans, Georgia will begin negotiations with our largest public employers, namely Coca Cola Refreshments USA Inc, Georgia Power Co., Home Depot, Lockheed Martin Corp, Northside and Piedmont Hospital, and Delta Airlines, to equalize pay and decrease gender-based differentials. We will also expand the opportunities for high school graduates to attend trade school or public colleges and universities through expanded joint enrollments, especially in rural counties. A concerted effort toward closing the gap between the federal and state minimum wage is a primary Goal of a Babbage administration.
Current programs to be maintained/re-evaluated for maintenance:
Of the top ten careers leading into the 2026 job market, seven have ties to manufacturing, and all rely on advanced critical thinking and decision making, oral and written expression skills in order to maintain employment in these fields. The 2019 forecast predicts an increase in jobs in related fields, however the ability to maintain employment in these fields are limited not only to the number of positions available, but the pool of qualified candidates to fill those positions.
While statisticians and research analysts crunch numbers, there has been no proposal to close the gap between job stability and workplace qualifications. K-12 schools have fallen short of producing a pool of work-ready candidates to draw industry. Therefore, the creation of a career readiness programs that provides career-pathways through specific training programs giving both blue collar workers and millenials exiting high school at college the opportunity to earn a living wage, legally. Implementing policies that provide equivocal opportunity to every Georgian willing to work is the only way to ensure the safety of our families.
Tax incentives toward the film industry have brought $9.5 billion in revenues in 2017. However, a Babbage administration has plans to double that figure, opening up infrastructure that facilitates increased involvement from the industry so that the edge is not permanently lost to Canada. While other industries will also benefit from tax incentives, the administration will primarily focus on increasing the quality tax credit within 18 months by attracting industry through the vocational training programs the state will put in public schools and vocational schools in rural areas that need the biggest boost in economic development, as well as in areas of gross disenfranchisement.
The administrations will provide pay incentives by working with the Georgia Department of Public Health’s (18) local public health districts throughout the state to provide technical assistance and training on developing and implementing policy, systems, and environmental changes to communities within their jurisdictions to:
These incentives affect the education sector, technical and labor based industries, as well as the health sector. Communities outside of the metropolitan perimeter will benefit greatly by having an increased access to changes in their communities that contribute to suburban economic growth as well as improved quality of life.
The administration will also create a review panel to work with Georgia’s top companies for the Governor’s Progress Award to evaluate pay differentials within the organization and offer incentives for performance that significantly decreased pay disparages within their organization. The review panel will also cite organizations who blatantly discriminate against protected groups either in pay, promotion, or other economic means.
The Administration will develop District Councils by joining with current and emerging social service organizations to meet the needs of communities at-large. Constituents throughout Georgia deserve the right to not only be heard, but also taken seriously. To achieve this goal, District Councils will filter questions, comments, and concerns that would typically go unaddressed. These offices, jointly facilitated by local congressional members, help Georgians participate in solution-based government, not political rhetoric and empty promises.
District councils could help facilitate the maintenance of roads or other public utilities in an area, complaints against local school boards, or zoning and development in a particular district. These councils give voters a chance to have their voice heard on the other 364 days of the year, not just voting day. District Councils help facilitate economic growth in underrepresented communities throughout the state.
Through tax and pay incentives, creating a pipeline toward increased manufacturing jobs, and the creation of district councils, Lisa Noel Babbage will strengthen Georgia’s economic base and create more opportunities for Georgia to win economically. Babbage makes a commitment to re-invest 10% of every tax dollar raised in these areas of redevelopment back into the communities for further infrastructure reform, school improvement, and other community-building programs.