Louisiana Nonfarm Employment at Highest Level Since April 2009

BATON ROUGE – Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment in November posted its highest total since April 2009, as job growth in the state marked its sixth consecutive month of over-the-year gains, the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) reported today.

The November 2010 count of 1,908,600 jobs is up 23,100 over the prior year and 400 over the month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) listed Louisiana as having the 11th largest statistically significant over-the-year employment increase in the nation.

“Having job gains for six straight months is a welcome growth trend,” said Curt Eysink, LWC executive director. “Many other states would like to see this type of growth in payroll employment.”

Five of 11 industry sectors recorded job increases over the month:

- Leisure and hospitality, 198,700, up 1,600 jobs

- Government, 365,600, up 600 jobs

- Manufacturing, 139,400, up 400

- Information, 25,300, also up 400

- Financial activities, 88,000, up 300

Decreases for the month were in education and health services, 278,900, down 900; professional and business services, 195, 700, down 800 jobs; and mining and logging, 50,300, down 500. Two industry sectors -- construction and trade, transportation, and utilities – were each down 300 workers to 127,400 and 371,100, respectively. The other services sector was down 100 jobs to 68,200. Nonfarm statistics are estimated from an employer-based sample survey by place of work.

A separate survey of households is used to estimate civilian labor force statistics. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased in November from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent, while the national rate increased to 9.8 percent from the revised October rate of 9.6 percent. Louisiana’s November rate was tied for 20th lowest in the nation along with Massachusetts and Texas, and tied with Texas for the fifth lowest rate in the Southern region. The Southern region rate for November was 9.2 percent.

Louisiana’s civilian labor force, defined as the number of people working or looking for work, for November 2010 was 2,112,371, a decline of 804 from October but a gain of 45,657 since November 2009. The number of people employed was 1,939,727, a decrease over the month by 3,026, but an over-the-year gain of 24,652. The number of unemployed in Louisiana in November 2010 was 172,644, an increase of 2,222 from October.

For more detailed information on November 2010 employment data for Louisiana go to www.laworks.net and select Labor Market Information then LOIS (Louisiana Occupational Information System). From the green menu scroll under Historical Data Analysis – Employment and Wage Data – then select either Industry Data – Current Employment Statistics (CES), or select Labor Force Data – Labor Force Employment and Unemployment (LAUS).