MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows some promising upward trends for Mobile County.
The Mobile Chamber of Commerce made a big announcement Tuesday about the economic growth.
The Chamber said Mobile County’s economy is thriving with job opportunities on the rise and they said this is just the beginning.
“We are at the very top of our game,” said the President of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce Bradley Byrne. “And we’re at the beginning. We haven’t even scratched the surface.”
Byrne believes better wages and a higher quality of life are on the horizon.
“It makes more money available for people to have higher wages and better benefits,” he said. “We’ve seen employment go up. But we know from the work we’ve done at the chamber that it’s not just more jobs…it’s more jobs that pay a lot more.”
Byrne said these jobs could attract more young professionals to Mobile County.
“Whenever you bring in more jobs that pay well and you start bringing in young professionals, they have a demand for a quality of life things so the new civic center is a result of that, putting in new things downtown,” he said.
But he also pointed out these jobs are just as available for locals.
“We’re going to get most of our workers, the thousands of workers that we’ve already announced, we’re gonna get most of those workers from the people that already live here right now,” he said.
Another major victory for Mobile County’s economy is outpacing both the state’s growth rate and the national average.
Data shows in 2023 Mobile County hit the highest job count since the Great Recession in 2008.
Byrne said Austal and Airbus are just two industrial sectors of Mobile County growing at phenomenal rates.
“My prediction is, is that the day is coming when you will look from the west side of the Mobile River to the east side, and about all you’ll see is Austal,” he said.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson also mentioned the remarkable GDP numbers in the city council meeting Tuesday morning.
“When you hear the chamber say that we’re in Mobile’s golden era, that is not just talk, it’s actually going on right now. Our economy is in an incredible position as we go forward,” said Stimpson.
“I am a hundred percent confident that we will meet or exceed all of our goals which are very ambitious,” said Byrne. “So this waterfront will not look the same in 2030 and this economy will not look the same in 2030, and this community will not look the same in 2030. It’s going to be a much, much more dynamic place.”
Byrne said Mobile County’s GDP has been steadily increasing and with substantial growth recorded in recent years he expects these trends to continue.
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