Research & Data
The labor market did not suddenly get easy this fall. U.S. employers added a net 29,000 jobs in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the unemployment rate was 4.2%. Prices rose faster than pay: real average hourly earnings fell 0.5% from August to September, because hourly pay rose 0.1% while consumer prices rose 0.6%. For many workers this is a stretch of few layoffs and few new openings.
The encouraging news this week is narrower than a turnaround, and more useful for that. Some employers still need people who can build, machine, weld and maintain complicated equipment, and in Georgia at least one of them has put a number and a timeline on it.
A Hall County plant puts a timeline on it
On Oct. 13, Gov. Brian Kemp announced that Dutch engineering group VDL Groep plans to invest an estimated $77 million over the next several years to expand its operation at 5459 Aloha Way in Oakwood, in Hall County. The state expects about 120 new jobs on top of the roughly 70 people the site already employs. Hiring is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. Construction is expected to finish in 2028.
The roles named in the announcement are concrete: machining, welding, sheet metal fabrication, engineering, administrative support, maintenance and management. The expansion adds large-milling capability and a bigger cleanroom for building semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which makes the site a supplier to chipmakers, not a chip factory.
The 120 figure is a multiyear target. It is not 120 people hired this week, and the state has not said how many positions open in the first year or what they pay. Progress should be counted in postings, filled jobs and wages, not in announcement totals.
The Fed heard the same thing from employers
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Beige Book report, released Oct. 14, describes the same split. In the Sixth District, which covers Alabama, Florida and Georgia plus parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, “employment levels were largely flat, and reports of layoffs remained limited.” The same report says shortages of “specialized, technical, and skilled trade workers persisted.” Most contacts reported raises of 2% to 3%, with continued wage pressure for skilled roles.
Total hiring can stay flat while particular skills stay scarce. The Atlanta Fed also found regional manufacturing flat overall, with strength in data center construction, industrial components fabrication and advanced manufacturing offsetting slight declines elsewhere.
The national factory data released Friday are a reminder not to read too much into one month. Manufacturing output rose 0.3% in September, the Federal Reserve reported, but grew at only a 0.7% annual rate in the third quarter. Output is not payroll: plants can produce more through overtime and automation before they add people.
What to watch
For workers, the upside is that the jobs behind this kind of investment can be learned and are tied to a place. The Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce credited the VDL decision to workforce partnerships that include Hall County and Gainesville City Schools, Lanier Technical College, Brenau University and the University of North Georgia. Someone deciding what to train for next should look past the announced total and check whether the employer is posting roles, which credentials it asks for and what it pays.
For employers, the same standard applies. If talent is scarce, say which trade, credential, shift and wage. If jobs are coming, post them and report how many are filled.
The Upside's call
Georgia’s advanced-manufacturing pipeline is a credible reason to watch for skilled-work openings, especially in Northeast Georgia as VDL begins hiring this quarter. The pipeline is not yet hiring. Watch the postings, the pay and the head count over the next two years.
Sources
- Georgia Department of Economic Development, press release on the VDL Groep expansion in Hall County, October 13, 2026. https://georgia.org/press-releases/2026/vdl-groep-adds-120-new-jobs-hall-county
- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Beige Book report, October 14, 2026. https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beigebook202610-atlanta.htm
- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, fact sheet (Sixth District coverage). https://www.atlantafed.org/news-and-events/press-room/atlanta-fed-fact-sheet
- Federal Reserve Board, G.17 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, October 16, 2026. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/default.htm
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The Employment Situation — September 2026,” October 2, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Real Earnings — September 2026,” October 14, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/realer.nr0.htm
Featured photo: An aerial view of Lanier Technical College's Hall Campus in Hall County, Georgia, Oct. 9, 2020. The college is one of the workforce partners the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce named in the VDL announcement; this is not the VDL plant. Photo: Tmurphy12345, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped from the original.
