Cajun Farmers Market asset to Houma’s economy; city looking to expand to downtown
March 30, 2010April 4: Horseshow (Houma)
April 1, 2010It should be easier to find a job this month, as unemployment numbers across the state are continuing to fall.
Numbers released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) last week show the amount of people working or looking for work – the civilian labor force – increased in February by 7,392, compared to numbers taken in January. The number of people employed in February also increased by a fairly large margin of 10,056.
About 3,000 non-farm jobs were added across the state during the month, according to seasonally adjusted numbers. While the nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.7 percent, Louisiana’s improved to 7.3 percent, from 7.4 percent in January.
Seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates show a slightly larger trend, as significant decreases were held over the month-long period.
During that time, the state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent, down 1.5 percent from a revised January rate of 8.2 percent. The nation, however, didn’t fare so well – it saw joblessness rates near 10.5 percent.
The Tri-parish area also experienced falling numbers, as Houma-Thibodaux hit 5 percent unemployment in February, down from a revised 6.3 percent in January. Lafourche stood at 4.7 percent, while Terrebonne rang in at 5.2 percent.
Over the month, unemployment in St. Mary dropped from 10.3 percent to 8.8 percent.
“The trends were seeing, the slight reductions, are really one thing we’ve seen unfolding for the past eight weeks,” said Mike Ferdinand, CEO of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority.
“Delayed projects or people who had difficulty financing, for some businesses, things are picking up and they’ve started hiring again,” he explained.
Among five industry sectors that saw growth over the month, the construction sector and mining and logging both added more than 1,000 jobs. Education and health services and government-related jobs saw decreases of around 1,000 jobs.
“For the first time in months, the size of the labor force, the number of people working and the number of people who are unemployed all moved in the right directions,” said LWC executive director Curt Eysink in a news release issued by the commission. “Our labor force is growing, more people are working and the number of unemployed is down. In February, employers showed a growing need for labor and more people found jobs.”
Initial claims for unemployment insurance also dropped slightly for the week ending March 20, totaling 3,797. The previous week saw 4,027 initial claims.
Continued claims decreased to 58,815 from 59,461 the previous week. However, the numbers are still above the comparable week in 2009, which only saw 42,887 continued claims.
