St. Mary Parish, state jobless rates down

BATON ROUGE — St. Mary Parish’s unemployment rate in April was 4.7 percent, down from 5 percent in March and 6.5 percent in April 2013, the Louisiana Workforce Commission reported.
Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate improved in every parish and metro area of the state in the 12 months ending in April, the commission stated in a news release Friday.
The rate also improved from March to April in all eight metro areas and in all but two parishes, Union and
Pointe Coupee, where the rate was unchanged over the month.
Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April was 4.3 percent, an improvement of 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier, and 0.2 points better than in March. The national rate in April was 5.9 percent.
“Every region of our state has grown stronger and we have more people working,” said Curt Eysink, commission executive director. “Louisiana continues to be a great place for people to find a job and the outlook is bright.”
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics uses a survey of 750 households in Louisiana to estimate unemployment rates and to measure the civilian labor force, defined as the number of people working and those actively looking for work.
Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted civilian labor force grew to 2,097,803 in April, an increase of 4,615 over the year and 16,335 more than in March.
There were 21,616 people employed in St. Mary Parish in April, up from 21,347 in March. There were 1,073 people looking for employment in April, down from 1,122 in March. In April 2013, there were 21,533 people employed and 1,489 people looking for work in St. Mary Parish.
The number of people employed in the state’s civilian labor force rose over the year by 35,395, to 2,006,923, not seasonally adjusted data for April show. Similarly, the number of unemployed shrank over the year by 30,780, to 90,880 in April.
Not seasonally adjusted unemployment rates in April improved over the year in all eight metro areas as follows:
Alexandria: 4.4 percent, down from 5.8 percent in April 2013;
Baton Rouge: 4.1 percent, down from 5.5 percent;
Houma: 3.0 percent, down from 4.0 percent;
Lafayette: 3.3 percent, down from 4.3 percent;
Lake Charles: 3.9 percent, down from 5.4 percent;
Monroe: 4.7 percent, down from 6.2 percent;
New Orleans: 4.3 percent, down from 5.8 percent;
Shreveport: 4.8 percent, down from 6.4 percent.
The BLS uses a separate survey of approximately 6,000 employers statewide and across industries to estimate nonfarm employment. Not seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment climbed to 1,967,500 in April, an increase of 16,400 over the year and 8,200 more than in March 2014. Private sector employers added 22,700 jobs during the 12 months that ended in April, and added 8,200 jobs from the previous month.
Professional and business services added 6,500 jobs over the year, not seasonally adjusted data show, which led all industry sectors. Leisure and hospitality added 6,200 jobs over the year, and trade, transportation, and utilities rounded out the top three, adding 3,400 jobs over the year.
Government had the biggest over-the-year decline, with 6,300 fewer federal, state and local government jobs.
The information sector lost 2,400 jobs, while mining and logging lost 300 jobs over the year.
Among metro areas, Baton Rouge gained the most nonfarm jobs over the year with 9,500, followed by the New Orleans metro area with 6,900 and Lake Charles with 2,900.
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.