A high-ranking official in Georgia’s Department of Commerce and Technology said last week that the state’s economy has hit a “critical turning point” as more and more people become digital natives.
“We are moving into the next wave of digital natives,” said Adam Fruchter, the director of the Department of Technology and Information Management.
“And we’re going to be the ones that are going to take care of this.”
Fruchtter said the digital natives are increasingly coming from more rural areas and are becoming “digital natives” because of the economic benefits they have experienced in the past.
“They have been able to access the internet and are able to have a job, pay for college, save for retirement, all of that stuff,” Fruachter said.
“They have had some of the greatest economic opportunities that the United States has ever seen.”
The digital natives have also been able do some of their own work.
They’re often paid more than those who are not digital natives, but the benefits they’ve enjoyed are often seen in terms of savings, Frucher said.
“The internet is a huge opportunity,” Fucchter said, noting that there’s a correlation between internet use and job satisfaction.
“We’re seeing people who are able, because they’re online, to make their own money.”
Fucchtner also noted that there are many digital natives who are still looking for a job.
“Some are in the process of hiring a new job.
Some are in a position where they’re looking for new opportunities.
Some have not been able,” he said.
Fruchtter said that digital natives in Georgia can expect to see an increase in their compensation, as they’ll also need to pay their mortgage.
The digital native population, however, is not necessarily an all-or-nothing proposition.
Many are already paying off their student loans.
So, some digital natives will need to consider that they’re not going to make enough to pay back their student loan debt, Fucchi said.
Another factor that might be keeping some digital native workers from returning to the workforce is that digital native employees often work from home, Fuchter said.
“When you’re out on the job, you’re able to work from wherever you are,” Fuchtter added.
“That means that the people that are working from home are not as well-equipped as those that are in their homes, and that’s going to impact those people.”
Fuchter also noted some digital residents are moving to states with less regulation, such as Texas and New Mexico.
“I think the key thing for digital natives is that they need to get in contact with their state and figure out what is their best place to live,” he explained.
“The best way to do that is to get involved with the local economy and see what the opportunities are.”
Futures are bright for Georgia’s digital nativesWhile the number of digital native jobs in Georgia is growing, Fuhrer said the state is still in its infancy.
Fucachter cited the example of his state.
“It’s a state that is already in the midst of this digital native boom, but it’s only been in its first two years,” he noted.
“It’s really only been this year that we’ve seen all of this growth, but there are still a lot of jobs that are still vacant.”
In Georgia, there are currently over 30,000 digital natives working for companies that are looking to hire, and more are expected to open their eyes.
The number of jobs in digital natives’ fields of expertise, such like data visualization and design, has increased by more than 50 percent since 2015.
Fuhrter expects digital natives to continue to grow.
“In Georgia’s state economy, the digital native is really starting to see their economic value grow,” he added.