Report: Foreign Investors Employ More Than 300,000 in Georgia

Some 1,500 foreign investors employ more than 300,400 people in Georgia, a third of them in manufacturing, and this powerful subset of companies creates jobs at nearly twice the rate of broader private sector, according to a new report from the Global Business Alliance. 

The trade association, comprised of 200 corporate members from the U.S. and around the world, lobbies to show policymakers how international investment is making an impact in their backyards.

Its new “census” includes a state-by-state breakdown of jobs created through local investment undertaken by overseas firms. In the decade leading up to 2023, the last year for which data is available, FDI (foreign direct investment) employment grew by 43 percent, compared to 23 percent in the private sector overall. 

About a third of the 104,800 FDI jobs in Georgia were in manufacturing, a sector prized as a multiplier for jobs, both upstream in supply chain and downstream in whole sale and retail. 

The report cites Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan as the top employers, without releasing specific figures. That tracks with previous Global Atlanta reporting, though FDI data can vary widely depending on the underlying data and how it’s categorized. Mega projects can also skew the data. South Korea will likely show up in the next analysis, given the more than 8,000 jobs being created at the Hyundai Metaplant near Savannah. Other European countries like Germany, France and Switzerland are also perennially cited as top employers, with more than 400 combined facilities in Georgia at a very conservative count. 

At 7.2 percent, Georgia outpaces the national average of just over 6 percent when it comes to the proportion of employment coming from FDI. That proportion is lower than its immediate neighbors in the Southeast, showing how foreign firms have found a major foothold all across the region, with many of them playing key roles growing sectors like automotive, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and aerospace. Investors often drive trade as well, given their sourcing of parts and inputs for their U.S. operations, which many also use as an export base. 

See the full Georgia report below, based on data from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

Among the 200 members of the alliance, many have operations in Georgia, including Hyundai, Bridgestone, Hitachi, JBS, Kerry, IKEA, Randstad, Bimbo, Sumitomo, UCB, Wipro, and many more.