A pipefitter marks pipe for cutting on an industrial construction job. Pipefitters are among the trades in highest demand in GBRIA's forecast.

Key Points

  • Louisiana employers had a record 2,024,200 jobs on payrolls in September (seasonally adjusted), up 36,000 from September 2025; the unemployment rate was 4.0%.

  • Construction added 18,800 jobs over the year, the largest gain of any sector, and Louisiana Works says the state's job growth ran at more than four times the national rate.

  • GBRIA forecasts Baton Rouge industrial construction demand rising from about 25,000 workers to nearly 35,000 by early 2028, with base wages up 4% to 5%.

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana employers had a record 2,024,200 jobs on their payrolls in September, seasonally adjusted, 36,000 more than a year earlier, according to the state's workforce agency. The harder question for business is whether there are enough pipefitters and electricians to keep that growth going, because the Baton Rouge region's industry alliance projects demand for roughly 40% more industrial construction workers by early 2028.

Louisiana Works, the state's workforce agency, published the September figures in its Oct. 20 release of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Payrolls rose by 300 from August, whose count was itself revised up from the 2,022,000 first reported. Private employment hit a record too, at 1,698,200. The unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a point to 4.0%, with 84,645 people out of work and looking for jobs. Nine of the state's 10 metropolitan areas added jobs over the year, and the Baton Rouge metro by itself added 13,700.

Construction led the way. The sector added 18,800 jobs from September 2025, more than double the next-largest gain. Professional and business services added 8,000 and reached a series record of 228,000 jobs, and private education and health services added 7,200. In its Oct. 14 labor market briefing, Louisiana Works put the state's job growth over the past year at 1.4%, against 0.3% for the United States, and ranked Louisiana fifth nationally in manufacturing employment growth and third in professional services. Those comparisons rest on three-month averages of unadjusted data, so they will not line up exactly with the monthly headline, though they point the same way.

The numbers help the Landry administration make its economic development case, and they come from the state's own agency. The administration has built its strategy around getting sites and infrastructure ready before a prospect arrives. Louisiana Economic Development opened a second, $50 million round of its FastSites program on Oct. 1, with the aim of having sites ready before companies need them. Site selectors look at the depth of a state's labor market as well as its incentives, so a record payroll count helps make that case to them.

The catch is the labor supply. The Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance's biannual forecast, released Oct. 16, projects that demand for industrial construction workers in the Baton Rouge region will grow from about 25,000 today to nearly 35,000 by the first quarter of 2028, according to WBRZ's account of the report. GBRIA says demand is climbing fast as industrial projects ramp up, with the sharpest need for electricians, pipefitters, combo welders, painters, insulators, concrete finishers and millwrights. Baton Rouge base wages are expected to rise 4% to 5%. Most of the demand comes from chemical, natural gas and refining projects, and GBRIA expects it to peak in the second quarter of 2028. GBRIA also flagged $35.6 billion in announced data center projects as more competition for the same crews.

"Industrial construction continues to be a major driver of local economic opportunity," GBRIA President and CEO Connie Fabre said in a statement. "This projected growth underscores the importance of upskilling our workforce to meet industry demand and sustain the economic benefit of these projects for Louisianans."

A jump that big leaves owners and contractors with practical questions, starting with speed. Community college craft programs and company apprenticeships need months to produce a qualified hand. The forecast implies roughly 10,000 additional workers in one region in about a year and a half. How much of the payroll gain stays in the state will depend on how many of those jobs go to Louisiana workers and how many go to traveling crews who leave when the peak passes.

Then there is cost. A 4% to 5% rise in base wages hits projects whose budgets were set months or years ago. Owners on fixed-price contracts will feel it differently from those on cost-plus terms. With demand peaking in 2028, several large jobs will be bidding against one another for the same trades at the same time, and data center builders, with deadlines of their own, add another bidder to that market.

The record held in September. Louisiana has more payroll jobs than at any point in the series, and the gains extend past the industrial corridor into professional services and health care. The construction surge also shows that capital commitments made in the last two years are turning into work on jobsites, the stage of the investment race where labor supply starts to bind.

The September count also gives a fresh check against the statewide job forecast through 2027. Louisiana Works releases September metro and parish figures on Oct. 28, and those will show where the construction jobs are going.

Photo: PEO ACWA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0