Jobless rates fall in November in 61 parishes

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Unemployment rates fell from October to November in 61 of Louisiana's 64 parishes, according to figures released Friday. All parishes remained above their jobless rates from November 2012, though.
Unemployment rates rose only in Grant and West Carroll parishes. The jobless rate was flat in Franklin Parish.
Terrebonne Parish's 3.8 percent remained the lowest jobless rate. East Carroll Parish's 12.9 percent remained highest.
St. Mary Parish’s November unemployment rate was 6 percent, down from 6.1 percent in October, but up from 5.6 percent in November 2012.
There were 21,812 people working in St. Mary Parish in November, up for 21,717 in October. There were 21,977 people working in November 2012.
Parish-level rates aren't adjusted to cancel out predictable seasonal changes.
Among metro areas, Lake Charles, Houma-Thibodaux-Bayou Cane and Lafayette showed the strongest year-over-year job growth.
Seasonally adjusted, Louisiana's jobless rate fell to 6.3 percent in November from October's 6.5 percent. November 2012's rate was 5.7 percent.
The national unemployment rate dropped to 7 percent in November, below October's 7.3 percent and November 2012's 7.8 percent.