Atlanta Workers Excited About Possible Amazon Headquarters

ATLANTA, GA — Nearly one out of every four metro Atlanta workers would "definitely" be interested in working for Amazon if the west-coast technology giant decides to build its second headquarters here.

That's the finding of a recent poll conducted by CNBC/SurveyMonkey. While the quarterly survey focuses on small-business issues, this one also asked 10,392 people across the United States their thoughts on Amazon.

At 24 percent, Atlanta was the second-most enthusiastic metro area surveyed, behind Detroit, where 26 percent of respondents said they'd definitely be interested in working for Amazon.

"If Jeff Bezos wants to ensure he will have enough of a workforce to start Amazon's second headquarters, Detroit and Atlanta are the obvious places to start," CNBC wrote in the report.

Overall, 58 percent of metro Atlanta respondents said it would be "a good thing" if Amazon chooses Atlanta for what it's calling "HQ2."

In September, Amazon announced that it plans to spend $5 billion on the new headquarters, creating as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs in the process. In its call for proposals, the company said the project is expected to create tens of thousands of additional support jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the community where the new headquarters land.

Consistently, Atlanta has been mentioned as a strong candidate to land the expansion, with analysts citing its already-diverse business community, role as a transportation hub as home to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and a qualified base of potential employees, bolstered by the presence of Georgia Tech.

State and local officials have pushed hard to recruit Amazon. Amazon's deadline for proposals for HQ2 was Oct. 19 and the company is expected to make its final decision some time next year.

In October, Moody's Analytics, the economic-research arm of the business and financial services company, ranked the Atlanta area No. 2 among the many localities striving to become home to the second headquarters. Austin, Texas was ranked No. 1.

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