Economic activity continues to surge, according to reports of businessmen and bankers. The outlook is optimistic, but the exuberance of the expansion is causing some bottlenecks and is exerting inflationary pressures. A number of large residential and commercial construction projects have been announced. The pace of new plant announcements has accelerated. Labor shortages are reported in some areas.

Residential construction continues strong. A $100 million planned development has been announced for an area south of Atlanta. This development will include industrial sites, apartments, single-family homes, and retail areas. A 216-unit condominium development also will be built south of Atlanta. A $70 million planned community is to be built on the Gulf in north Florida. Home building continues at a hectic pace in central Florida. A 4,000-unit development has been announced for an area near Orlando. This is the sixth major planned unit development under way in central Florida. A shortage of apartments is reported in the Orlando area. In the Birmingham area, however, there is evidence that home building will soon begin to taper off, but 1973 is still expected to be a good year for housing there.

The outlook for commercial construction is also strong. A $100 million, 2,034-room hotel has been announced for the downtown Atlanta area. This is the fifth major hotel announced for downtown Atlanta in the past year. A $47 million complex has been announced for an area in north Atlanta. It will include a 29-story office tower, a motel, and apartments. In the Tampa area, a major retail firm is planning a distribution center and an insurance company will build an office complex. A 21-story hotel has been announced for the Orlando area. A new 18-store shopping center is to be built in the Huntsville area.

A group of ten oil companies plans to build a $500 million superport near New Orleans. Western electric will build a material management center near Montgomery, Alabama. There has been a rash of announcements of relatively small plants in the last month. Most of these plants are in the textile and apparel industry, but they also include plants for processing wood, fabricating metals, and producing auto emission control equipment.

Retail sales are reported strong throughout the Southeast, and merchants are unanimously optimistic about the Christmas season.

A shortage of labor is reported in much of Florida. In parts of that state, the unemployment rate is less than 2 percent. A bank in the Jacksonville area reports difficulty in finding qualified help. An apparel plant to employ 500 will be built near Pensacola, provided a labor survey indicates that adequate labor can be found. The citrus industry is worried about finding sufficient harvesting labor if the projected huge crop materializes. In areas of Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi, unemployment rates are at the lowest levels in many years. Delta Airlines is adding about 400 employees in the Miami area to handle increased traffic. However, 600 employees will be out of work in south Georgia because a poultry processing plant has gone into bankruptcy. Two hundred and ninety employees are being laid off at an unprofitable apparel plant south of Atlanta. A laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is laying off 200 employees.

Land speculation in central Florida is reported to be at its highest level since 1929. In the Ocala area, borrowers with little or no equity are applying for loans to speculate in real estate. The hectic pace of construction in central Florida is producing delays, shortages, and cost increases. For example, sewer pipe is reported in tight supply. Nevertheless, a pipe producer in central Florida has been unable to go ahead with a plant expansion because of the inability to obtain sufficient natural gas commitments. Attempts to line up alternative sources of energy have proved unsuccessful. Prices of homes in the Orlando area are reportedly inflating rapidly. A director from that area says that homes that a few years ago sold for $30,000 are now selling for between $50,000 and $60,000.

Wet weather has continued to hamper soybean harvesting.
It is estimated that 30 million bushels have been lost in Tennessee. The wet weather has been a boom to the citrus industry and to vegetable growers and cattlemen in central Florida.