Jobless rate continues to fall in Tri-parishes

Terrebonne Parish possessed the lowest unemployment rate in Louisiana in June at 3.4 percent, followed closely by Lafourche Parish at 3.5 percent.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area had the lowest unemployment rate of all metropolitan areas in the state at 3.5 percent. Only the Lafayette metropolitan area had an unemployment rate below 4 percent at 3.7.

Other individual parishes in Louisiana having unemployment rates below 4 percent were Lafayette at 3.6 percent and St. Tammany at 3.8 percent.

The low unemployment figures posted by Terrebonne and Lafourche come in the wake of a call by Louisiana Workforce Commission Executive Director Tim Barfield for workers in the state to match their skills with the demands of employers. Louisiana’s unemployment rate fell by one-fifth percent from May to June.

Local and state government was the largest employer in the Houma-Thibodaux area with 13,600 employees, followed closely by the retail trade sector with 10,900 workers. No figures were given for the educational and health services sector.

Leisure and hospitality services in Houma-Thibodaux employed 7,800 people.

Oil and gas drilling and its support activities in Houma-Thibodaux employed 13,000 people in June. Construction jobs supported 5,700 employees.

Houma-Thibodaux provided a total of 97,400 jobs in June.