Georgia
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
Georgia at China’s rate would graduate 18,276 engineers a year. It graduates 8,140.
Georgia produces 8,140 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 55,049 total, one of America's strongest engineering producers, from 36 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 18,276. Output is growing (+14.1% over three years). Gap Score: 44% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 13,000 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 71% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Georgia is missing 10,136 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 3x the annual output of Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus.
Where Georgia’s engineers are made.
36 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Georgia. The top 8 account for 89% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | 3,301 | 72.4% |
| 2 | Kennesaw State University | 1,453 | 23.0% |
| 3 | Georgia State University | 747 | 13.9% |
| 4 | University of Georgia | 742 | 8.9% |
| 5 | Georgia Southern University | 458 | 11.7% |
| 6 | University of North Georgia | 226 | 10.1% |
| 7 | Mercer University | 165 | 14.2% |
| 8 | Georgia Gwinnett College | 147 | 12.3% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Georgia's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 2,860 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 1,440 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 1,200 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 740 |
| Civil Engineers | 560 |
| Industrial Engineers | 550 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: Georgia labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Georgia's incentive-backed factories need engineers it does not yet produce
Georgia has committed more than $3.6 billion in state and local incentives on two EV campuses alone, plus a solar corridor and a metro-Atlanta data-center boom that will nearly double Georgia Power's generating fleet. Each project assumes a technical workforce the state's own colleges are not yet producing at scale.
The drain.
Georgia keeps most of the graduates it educates in-state, and metro Atlanta now turns out more tech degrees than it adds tech jobs. The leak is upstream: too few Georgia high-school graduates enroll in Georgia colleges, and Georgia Tech's fast growth still admits under a third of in-state applicants.
Sources: UGA News; Hypepotamus (CBRE Scoring Tech Talent 2025); Georgia Tech Undergraduate Admission; Capitol Beat
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in Georgia.
Tie the Metaplant money to hiring
The $2.1B Hyundai deal requires 8,500 jobs by 2031 but the first years ran on rotating Korean technicians. Georgia should condition future clawback relief on Digital ROTC cohorts at Savannah Tech and Georgia Southern, with the company funding tuition in exchange for four years of service on the line.
Fund need-based aid with service
Georgia launched its first need-based aid, the $325 million DREAMS Scholarship, in 2026, but it carries no service obligation. Pairing DREAMS awards for engineering students at technical colleges and USG campuses with a Georgia service commitment would keep those students home and point them at Rivian, Qcells and the grid build-out.
Fund engineering seats from data-center fees
The data-center exemption costs about $2.5B a year and lawmakers left it intact. Attach a per-megawatt pipeline fee to large-load contracts that underwrites Digital ROTC power-and-controls slots at Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and the technical colleges, so the 10,000 MW build is staffed by Georgians.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In Georgia, 12% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.