• The state’s GDP is projected to grow by 1.7%, the first expansion since 2007, according to the University of Georgia Selig Center for Economic Growth.
  
• Georgia’s unemployment rate will peak at 11% as growth in prospective employees outstrips anemic job growth. Job losses will continue, but should turn the corner in the third quarter, according to Selig Center.
  
• Mass layoffs have appeared to slow for metro Atlanta, with both American Express and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta reporting cuts in staff by 55 each, according to the state’s labor department.
• State revenues declined from 1.48 billion to 1.4 billion in December, a 5% decrease. Revenues dropped by 13% in 2009, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue.
• Employee salaries in Georgia dropped from 2008 to 2009, from $188 billion to $182 billion between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009, according to the Bureau of Economic Statistics. But salaries rose slightly during the course of 2009, from $181.9 billion in the first quarter to $182 billion in the second quarter. One notable exception was healthcare, which saw gross salaries rise from $16.9 billion to $17.8 billion during 2009.
• Personal income did rise through 2009 in Georgia, from $330 billion to $333.6 billion between the first and third quarters.
   

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