Lafouche Parish posts state’s second-lowest jobless rate

Rebounding from the hurricanes in September, the Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statisti-cal Area gained 700 jobs in October, but the area has lost 900 jobs since last year, according to the Louisiana Workforce Com-mission.

Lafourche Parish showed the second-lowest unemployment rate in Louisiana at 3.8 percent in October, following only Lafayette Parish’s 3.6 percent.

Terrebonne had the fourth lowest at 4.1 percent. St. Tammany Parish was third.

The Houma-Thibodaux metropolitan area – made up of Terrebonne and Lafourche – also had the second-lowest unemployment rate in the state in October at 4 percent, trailing the Lafayette area, which had 3.7 percent.

The unemployment rate for the state was 5.5 percent.

Both Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes’ unemployment rates have risen similarly since last year, when they were 2.4 and 2.6 percent in April 2007, respectively.

The Workforce Commission figures show the Houma-Thibodaux metropolitan area having 99,628 people working and 4,135 unemployed in October.

Most work in the service-providing sector. Trade, Transporta-tion, and Utilities employed 24,500 people, while retailers employed 10,700 people.

Government services and leisure and hospitality employed 14,300 and 7,500 people, respectively.

The figures show 5,600 people working in the Support Activities for Water Transportation division.

The goods-producing sector in the Houma-Thibodaux region employed 21,900 people in October, according to the Workforce Commission.