Louisiana Sees Job Growth in February; Unemployment Rate Continues to Fall

Louisiana continued to see a rise in employment opportunities for residents, with nonfarm jobs increasing by 13,600 from January, according to recent data released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission. These figures, which are not seasonally adjusted, indicate that there were approximately 1.94 million nonfarm jobs in the state in February, compared to nearly 1.93 million in January and 1.91 million in February 2022. Louisiana has experienced an increase in jobs for seven out of the past eight months, demonstrating that the state's economy is recovering.

New Orleans added 5,100 jobs in February, with the leisure and hospitality sector seeing the largest increase of 1,900 jobs. The private education and health services sector added 1,600 jobs.

Baton Rouge saw an increase of 2,300 jobs in February, with heavy and civil engineering construction adding 1,800 jobs. Health care and social assistance and professional, scientific and technical services also added 600 jobs each.

Lafayette experienced a 1,200-job gain in February. Private education and health services added 400 jobs, and goods-producing saw an increase of 300 jobs.

Lake Charles added 700 jobs, with private service jobs accounting for an increase of 500.

Houma-Thibodaux saw a gain of 1,500 jobs from January, Shreveport-Bossier City increased by 1,000, and Hammond, Monroe and Alexandria all added 800 jobs.

Louisiana's civilian labor force was nearly 2.03 million in February, up from 2.01 million in January. The number of unemployed people fell slightly from 75,724 in January to 74,034, resulting in the unemployment rate falling from 3.6% to 3.5%.

All of the state's metro areas either saw a decrease or no change in unemployment rates. New Orleans saw a decrease from 3.7% to 3.6%, Baton Rouge went down from 3.2% to 3.1%, Lake Charles decreased from 3.5% to 3.3%, Hammond fell from 4.3% to 4.1%, and Lafayette remained at 3.4%. These figures indicate that Louisiana's economy is continuing to show signs of improvement, with a promising outlook for future growth.