BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ The Baton Rouge and New Orleans metro areas each gained 12,600 nonfarm jobs over the year ended July 31, state labor officials said.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission reported Friday that seasonally adjusted numbers show that was a 3.3 percent increase to a new total of 397,200 jobs in the Baton Rouge area. New Orleans had a 2.3 percent increase to boost its job total to 557,300, the commission said.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1lorz40 ) the commission said big job gains were experienced at both goods-producing businesses and those that provide services in Baton Rouge, while the service-providing sector was responsible for most of the increase in New Orleans.
The Lafayette area ended July with 163,800 jobs, an increase of 4,900, or 3.1 percent over the same month in 2013. Goods producers and service providers split the majority of those new jobs.
The Lake Charles area, in the beginning stages of an industrial boom expected to add as much as $34 billion in new facilities, had the largest 1-year rate of growth in the state _ 4.1 percent. That was an increase of 3,800 jobs, which placed the area’s total at 95,700.
Two percent job growth in the Houma-Thibodaux area pushed that region’s new total to 101,800.
Job gains also were recorded for the Shreveport and Monroe areas.
Shreveport employment grew 1.2 percent, or 2,000 jobs, to a July 31 total of 172,800 jobs.
Monroe attracted 700 new jobs, a nearly 1 percent gain, boosting its year-over-year total to 79,000.
Alexandria’s metro area posted Louisiana’s only 1-year job loss last month. After losing 200 jobs, or 0.3 percent, that area’s job total was recorded as 62,400.
The commission also said seasonally unadjusted numbers show Louisiana set a record last month with a civilian labor force of 2,164,914. The civilian labor force includes both jobholders and people looking for work.
In seasonally adjusted numbers, July’s total nonfarm employment was a Louisiana record 1,981,300. That record number was announced Monday by both the LWC and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
