La. lost 3,700 jobs in May

• By GARY PERILLOUX
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Jun 26, 2009 - Page: 6B

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In May, Louisiana lost 3,700 jobs — the third time in five months the state has seen employment losses this year — and the state now rests 15,700 jobs below a year ago, a further sign that the national recession is affecting the state.

Baton Rouge bucked the downward trend, gaining 300 jobs from April to May, with total employment up 1,300 jobs from a year ago to 376,000. That makes it the only metropolitan area in Louisiana to post both monthly and annual jobs gains.

Around the state, Lake Charles posted the only other monthly job gain — a 600-job increase — but the state’s metro areas are beginning to lose ground on an annual basis.

Compared to May 2008, employment is down 700 jobs in Alexandria; down 500 in Houma; down 1,700 in Lafayette; down 2,000 in Monroe; down 1,700 in Shreveport; and down by a state-high 3,800 jobs in metro New Orleans.

Still, the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s headline on the May employment report released Thursday holds true: Louisiana employment outperforms the nation. The state jobless rate rose from 6.2 percent in April to 6.6 percent in May, while the national unemployment rate rose from 9.0 percent to 9.4 percent.

“We’ve certainly seen an increase in the unemployment rate, fairly close to what we expected,” said Tim Barfield, executive director of the workforce commission. “But we continue to outpace the national economy. I think that’s the good news.”

Eight of the 11 major industry sectors in the state experienced job declines in May, on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis, the commission reported. Only in March and February this year, did more industry sectors gain jobs than lose them.

In most years, Louisiana loses jobs in January and July, coming off holiday shopping employment early in the year and the end of campus-based jobs in summer. Those were the only two months in which employment declined in 2006.

But the number of months with declining employment increased to three in 2007, four in 2008 and appears on track for more months in 2009. The state work-force commission doesn’t forecast how employment will track in future months. But Barfield said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the jobless rate continue higher before a turnaround occurs.

He does not expect a Louisiana unemployment rate in the upper-8 percent range as one private-sector report forecast for late 2009. The state’s civilian labor force included 1.936 million people with jobs in May and 130,600 unemployed people, with the number of unemployed residents up from 76,500 a year earlier.

“That’s a troubling trend,” Barfield said. “It’s too many people dropping out of the work force, in any scenario.”

Information the commission is receiving on an anecdotal basis — company projections of oil and gas sector spending and real estate buying — appear to show an improvement in parts of the state economy, he said. But the trailing job data may not show such gains for some months.

Employment services, a subcategory of the professional and business services sector, saw jobs statewide rise by 700 in May to 37,000. That could become a leading indicator of recovery because employment services include contract and temporary workers, Barfield said.