St. Mary Parish jobless ready nearly steady, but up from a year ago

BATON ROUGE — St. Mary Parish’s unemployment rate remained nearly steady in December at 6.8 percent, down slight from 6.9 percent in November, according to not seasonally adjusted December data released Friday by the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
But the parish’s jobless rate is up sharply from 4.8 percent in December 2013.
Louisiana set records for total nonfarm employment and private sector employment, the report stated.
Total statewide nonfarm employment was 2,004,100 in December, an increase of 29,200 over the year and up 5,000 from November, according to not seasonally adjusted estimates from a monthly survey of 6,000 employers across industries and the state by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There were 22,438 people working in St. Mary Parish in December, up from 21,785 in December 2013. There were 1,647 people looking for a job in December 2014 compared to 1,105 in December 2013.
The number of people working in December was unchanged from November and those seeking work decreased from 1,664 in November to 1,647 in December.
Louisiana’s private employers added 34,800 jobs over the year and 5,800 jobs since November, not seasonally adjusted data for December show. Private employers have added jobs over-the-year for 51 consecutive months, pushing statewide private employment to 1,666,300 in December, not seasonally adjusted data show.
Curt Eysink, commission executive director, said, “Employers have been adding jobs in most industry sectors and in many parts of the state.”
Eysink added, “Broad-based and sustained job growth is great for Louisiana.”
Sectors that added jobs over the year were professional and business services, 9,000 jobs; trade, transportation, and utilities, 6,200 jobs; leisure and hospitality, 6,100 jobs; construction, 5,900 jobs; education and health services, 4,500 jobs; manufacturing, 2,400 jobs; financial activities, 1,000 jobs; and other services, which added 700 jobs, not seasonally adjusted data show.
The government employment sector, including federal, state and local government jobs, had the biggest over- the-year decline with 5,600 jobs, including the loss of 4,000 state government jobs.
Mining and logging, which employs most of Louisiana’s oil and gas extraction workers, had the biggest over- the-year private-sector loss with 600 jobs, and was down 700 jobs since November. Information lost 400 jobs over the year.
A monthly survey of 750 Louisiana households found Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in December grew by 103,118 over the year, to 2,181,191. The majority of those labor force entrants—65,833 people—were employed, while 37,285 were unemployed but looking for work.
The total number of people working in the labor force was 2,046,942, while the number unemployed was 134,249 in December, not seasonally adjusted data show.
Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted unemployed rate in December was 6.2 percent, 1.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier and a 0.1 percentage point lower than in November. The national rate in December was 5.4 percent, down from 6.5 percent in December 2013 and down a 0.1 percentage point from November.
Not seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in all eight Louisiana metro areas improved over the month as follows:
Alexandria: 6.7 percent, down from 6.8 percent in November;
Baton Rouge: 5.7 percent, down from 5.9 percent;
Houma, 4.2 percent, down from 4.5 percent;
Lafayette: 4.6 percent, down from 4.9 percent;
Lake Charles: 5.3 percent, down from 5.6 percent;
Monroe: 6.7 percent, down from 6.8 percent;
New Orleans: 6.1 percent, down from 6.4 percent;
Shreveport: 6.5 percent, down from 6.8 percent.
Not seasonally adjusted data are useful for comparing trends in parishes and metropolitan statistical areas, and for comparing them to the state. Seasonally adjusted data, on the other hand, are useful for comparisons among states and the nation.
Employers looking for workers should visit Louisiana’s employment homepage at www.laworks.net and create a HiRE account which will provide access to qualified job seekers. Individuals looking for jobs in high-value careers should use Louisiana Star Jobs, the LWC’s free career exploration and job search tool, at www.laworks.net/stars. A mobile version of Louisiana Star Jobs is also available at m.laworks.net.
To view all available employment data, visit Louisiana’s employment homepage at http://www.laworks.net and select Labor Market Information from the top-right menu. Then select Monthly Employment Bulletin – Workforce At A Glance or Monthly Employment Statistics Press Release for the latest monthly nonfarm and labor force data.
Connect with the Louisiana Workforce Commission socially at facebook.com/louisianaworks, twitter.com/louisianaworks and linkedin.com/company/louisiana-workforce-commission.
To view the BLS nonfarm estimates for the state, click here: http://data.bls.gov/pdq/querytool.jsp?survey=la.