February 2023 saw a good many jobs added in Louisiana as well as a drop in the unemployment rate. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commision there were 13,600 nonfarm jobs added making it 1.94 million nonfarm jobs across the state. This is up from the 1.93 million reported in January 2023 and 1.91 million reported in February 2022. In fact, the state has seen a monthly increase seven out of the eight past months.
In New Orleans there were 5,100 jobs added with 1,900 of those jobs in leisure and hospitality and 1,.600 in private education. Baton Rouge saw an increase of 2,300 with 1,800 of those jobs in civil engineering construction and 600 in health care, social assistance, professional, scientific and technical services. Lafayette saw an increase of 1,200 jobs with 400 in health services and 300 in goods producing. Lake Charles had 700 jobs added with 500 of those jobs being in private service jobs. The remaining areas reported were Houma-Thibodaux with 1,500, Shreveport-Bossier City with 1,000 and Hammond-Monroe-Alexandria with 800.
The civilian labor force in Louisiana was also up from 2.01 million in January 2023 to 2.03 million in February 2023. Along with this, the number of unemployed fell from 75,724 in January to 74,034 in February, making the unemployment rate for the state drip from 3.6% to 3.5%. For the metro areas, New Orleans went from 3.7% to 3.6%, Baton Rouge 3.2% to 3.1%, Lake Charles from 3.5% to 3.3%, Hammond dropped from 4.3% to 4.1% and Lafayette stayed the same.
