While Gainesville and Hall County experienced a subtle increase in jobs and investment during 2017, a year-end summary from the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce indicates good things ahead.
Chamber Vice President of Economic Development Tim Evans said there are projects that have been revealed, but not yet realized.
"It often takes a year or more for those capital investments to complete, and it takes a while to spend 30 or $50 million and actually ramp up employment."
The 2017 summary indicates 29 new and expanding firms with roughly 900 new jobs and 170 million dollars in new capital investment for greater Hall County.
"The big difference was the number of companies that we worked with and number of investments throughout the year jumped about 60 percent this year," Evans said.
While there were more announcements of capital investments and jobs in the year, Evans said they were smaller in size.
But the small business sector continues to be the life blood of the area, posting some of the greatest employment gains over the year.
"It's also the largest share of our employment, as well as our own chamber membership," Evans said. "99 percent of the businesses in Hall County are categorized as small businesses. We see small business employment up, as well as participation in small business programs and events throughout this last year."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/12/620082/2017-chamber-summary-shows-subtle-increase-in-jobs-investment-for-gainesville-hall