Advanesser Adams
January 5, 2010Drake Touchet
January 7, 2010Following a year of low unemployment rates, south Louisiana continued the trend throughout the latter part of 2009.
The unemployment rate decreased in November in every parish, lowering the state’s overall not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate from 7.1 percent in October to 6.3 percent, according to a press release issued by the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Unadjusted unemployment rates are used to compare parish data to state data.
Houma gained 500 jobs in non-farm employment, overshadowed by Baton Rouge, which led the pack by adding 1,800 jobs.
Lafourche Parish led the state in unemployment, with rates scraping the bottom of the barrel at 4.4 percent.
In a release, Executive Director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission Curt Eysink said, “This is more great news for the entire state.
“While we’re certainly not immune from the national economy, these numbers show that our labor markets are continuing to do better than the national and the South,” he added.
Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate – used to compare state trends to national trends – hit 6.7 percent, down from 7.4 percent in October.
The largest gains in nonfarm employment were found in trade, transportation and utilities and professional and business services.
Numbers released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission said the number of people working in Louisiana in November was nearly 1.92 million, a slight jump from 1.9 million in October.
At the beginning of December, Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ranked second lowest in the Southern region behind Virginia. Louisiana also tied with Iowa and New Hampshire for ninth lowest in the U.S.
A release issued earlier this week said that claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending Dec. 26, 2009, “…decreased to 3,568 from the previous week’s total of 4,954.”
However, experts suggested the decrease in claims was attributed to a shorter workweek during the Christmas holiday.
