An August, 1995 economic study by Peter A. Morton investigates employment and income trends from 1969-1990, and highlights trends for selected industries in the four-county Chattooga watershed area. Portions of Jackson and Macon Counties in North Carolina, Oconee County in South Carolina and Rabun County in Georgia comprise the Chattooga watershed economic study area. This profile does include land, people and businesses outside of the watershed proper, because the economic data necessary for the analysis is grouped by whole counties, and because activities occurring in the watershed proper are directly tied to the economy of the entire county. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Census and economic reports issued by state-level government agencies was used for the analysis. Comparisons are made between local trends, and the same statistics for the three-state region (NC, SC and GA) and the United States as a whole. The report presents a picture of the economic base of the area, how the economy has evolved over a twenty-year period, and how its evolution compares to regional and national trends.

Employment and Income Trends

Between 1970 and 1990 population, jobs, and labor and non-labor income all increased in the Chattooga area at rates greater than in the three-state region and in the U.S. as a whole. Jobs in our area increased by 72% during these twenty years. The combination of retail trade, services, construction and government sectors created most (72%) of the new jobs. The slowest growing sector was manufacturing (12% increase in jobs), and the fastest growing were finance, insurance and real estate (406% increase), followed by construction (310% increase) during the same twenty years. The top employers for the Chattooga area in 1990 were manufacturing (25% of total employment) and service-related industries including services, retail trade, government and construction (this combination accounted for 53% of total employment in the area). Self-employment has more than tripled in the last twenty years: in 1990 self-employed workers made up 20% of total employment in the Chattooga area.

Real (adjusted for inflation) total personal income (TPI) in the Chattooga area increased by 120% from 1970-1990. This growth in TPI was greater than for the three-state region and greater than the country as a whole. Non-labor income accounted for a large part of our area's total personal income (35% of TPI in 1990, an increase from 21% in 1970). The migration of retirees with non-labor income from pension funds and home equity gains has changed the dynamics of the economy of the Chattooga four-county area.

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