Georgia is often cited as “no. 1 for business,” but developments in 2025 underscore the state’s history of disinvesting in workers’ access to a living wage, nutrition, healthcare and more. For example, 34 states have a minimum wage that is above the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour, while Georgia’s state minimum wage remains below the federal minimum, and the state has repeatedly rejected plans to increase it.
Georgia also ranks number 36 for food insecurity with polling showing that many Georgians struggle to afford the cost of food. Georgia’s health system performance ranks number 45 overall and number 47 for access and affordability, with the death rate for Georgia’s working age people increasing over the past decade, particularly among men. Overall, Georgia ranks number 50 among the best states to work in, and Georgia’s unaffordable childcare may, as happens in other states, keep many women out of the workforce. This is especially true of Black women with young children who often work more than their counterparts.
These rankings stand in stark contrast to a low unemployment rate that appears to put Georgia among the top-performing states. The rankings also reflect that 34% of Georgians are asset limited, income constrained, and employed, which means they are working, but unable to make ends meet. For example, an Atlanta metro area individual’s living wage for a household with two adults and two children would be $27.31 per hour assuming both adults are working fulltime. With a mean area hourly wage of $33.73, many households fall short of what is needed to make ends meet, and if one adult loses their job, the family will struggle to pay their bills. The state also continues to make worker organizing and collective bargaining difficult, and Georgia has one of the lowest union membership rates in the country.
Adding to the precarity of Georgia workers, the federal government has laid off hundreds of federal employees in the state and has made cuts to key programs that will make Georgia workers hungrier, sicker and more vulnerable to future economic downturns. Georgia’s immigrant workers, who make up 27% of the state’s construction workforce, face an uphill climb as political rhetoric, the implementation of HB 1105 and expanded incarceration and deportations disrupt family income and separate families. The state’s doubling down on immigrant detention reflects a broader historical trend through which incarceration has harmed Georgia workers of color for generations and others have benefitted from their unpaid and unprotected labor.
While all these trends reflect a series of policy choices that undermine the economic security of Georgia workers, choices that have been made can be unmade. This Labor Day and every day, GBPI continues to partner with allies to move the state away from complacency and toward greater engagement on policies that support workers’ economic security. On the federal level, it will take all of us, all together, to reverse what amounts to the harshest federal cuts in a generation to programs that help support individuals experiencing poverty. Through community, courage and care we can help make the state that is “no. 1 for business” also “no. 1 for workers.”
