Research & Data
Georgia’s fiscal 2026 economic-development results, which the state released Sept. 3, show how much of its job pipeline now depends on international companies. Across the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2026, international companies accounted for more than 9,350 announced jobs, and the state said investment from international companies more than doubled from fiscal 2025.
The state counted more than $7.8 billion in foreign direct investment from the year’s recruitment and expansion work. It did not publish the fiscal 2025 dollar figure behind the doubling comparison. Korea, Italy, Belgium, Canada and France were the leading international sources of job creation.
By JobGetr’s calculation, that international slice is more than one-third of the roughly 25,300 private-sector jobs the state expects from the 436 expansions and new locations that the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team supported during the year. Those are commitments to be filled over the coming years, not jobs already on payrolls. Total project investment was roughly $35.2 billion.
The figures also show how heavily the state’s growth strategy still leans on manufacturing. Manufacturing accounted for 67% of new jobs announced during the year, and automotive, life sciences and food processing manufacturing together made up 27% of job creation.
The projects were spread well beyond metro Atlanta. The state said 75% of expansions and new locations were outside the 10-county metro Atlanta region, while metro Atlanta is still slated to receive more than $5.3 billion in new investment.
The fiscal 2026 numbers are useful context for newer announcements such as Hyundai Transys’ plan, announced Oct. 8, to add 320 jobs with a nearly $560 million expansion in West Point. That project falls in the current fiscal year, so it is not counted in the fiscal 2026 totals. But it follows the same pattern: a manufacturer adding capacity at an existing Georgia operation, in a state that named Korea first among its top international sources of job creation last year.
Sources
- Office of the Governor of Georgia, fiscal 2026 economic-development results, September 3, 2026. https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2026-09-03/gov-kemp-announces-another-record-breaking-year-economic-development
- Georgia Department of Economic Development, fiscal 2026 economic-development results, September 3, 2026. https://georgia.org/press-releases/2026/gov-kemp-announces-another-record-breaking-year-economic-development-investments
- Georgia Department of Economic Development, Hyundai Transys West Point expansion announcement, October 8, 2026. https://georgia.org/press-releases/2026/hyundai-transys-bringing-320-new-jobs-west-point
Featured photo: The Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. The fiscal 2026 figures were published by the governor’s office and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Representative image. Photo: Harrison Keely, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Cropped from the original.
