Stephens County industries pay more, employ more than Hart, Franklin counties

Stephens County Development Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Brittany Ivey has distributed a report recently presented to the Join Development Authority of Franklin, Hart and Stephens counties meeting in July.

The report came from the Georgia Department of Labor, and compared employment wage, labor force, and industry employment distribution data between Stephens, Hart, and Franklin counties.

Ivey tells WNEG News that in Stephens County our industries employ more people and pay a higher average hourly rate than Franklin and Hart counties.

“It says that we have more jobs in manufacturing. We have slightly higher paying jobs than Franklin County, and $1.02 more and hour jobs than in Hart County. We’re proud of this information. We also have a smaller labor force than Hart County; so, it’s good to have more jobs than people to fill them,” she said.

According to the employment wage statistics table, Stephens County industries pay an average hourly wage of $22.85 to its 8,524 employees; whereas Franklin County’s average hourly wage is $22.68 for its 7,802 employees, and Hart County’s average hourly wage for its 6,877 employees is $21.83.

Additionally, Stephens County’s civilian labor force is 10,410 and of those 10,095 are currently employed. There are 315 residents who are unemployed.

In Franklin County the labor force is 10,149 with 9,868 employed and 281 unemployed.

In Hart County the labor force is 11,936 with 11,614 employed and 322 unemployed.

Ivey says the Development Authority will continue working with the Stephens County School System and North Georgia Technical College to build a larger workforce.

“We’re proud of the efforts that we’re making in Stephens County to ensure we have good quality-paying jobs for our employees and we continue to work with our school system and North Georgia Technical College to build the workforce to fill the jobs that are unfilled,” she said.

The GDOL also includes information regarding the distribution of employees per industry.

In Stephens County, manufacturing industries provide 2,292 jobs; whereas in Franklin County that number is 1,568 jobs and Hart County provides 1,935 jobs.

In Stephens County, the retail industry provides 1,333 jobs; whereas in Franklin County that number is 910, and Hart County’s is 994 jobs.

For Health Care and Social Assistance, Stephens County industries employ 1,043 people, whereas in Franklin County they employ 792 people and in Hart County 401.

For additional information regarding employment opportunities in Stephens County visit employgeorgia.com.