Parish jobless rate rises slightly in December

St. Mary Parish’s unemployment and workforce numbers may be starting to plateau, which could be a good sign for the local economy.
Parish unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in December, rising slightly from November’s rate of 8.7 percent, an email from the state Workforce Commission said.
The parish’s workforce, which is the sum of those employed and those unemployed looking for work, dropped from 21,460 to 21,325 comparing November to December.
Parish unemployment in December 2015 was 7 percent, and the workforce was also substantially larger with 23,783 people.
Early this month, Parish Economic Development Director Frank Fink said employment appeared to be “starting to level off,” which he saw as a positive indicator.
Industry forecasters are predicting the price of oil will reach $60 to $65 per barrel by the end of 2017 because the world economy is expected to follow the U.S. economy’s pickup in activity, thus increasing demand for oil, Fink said.
October unemployment in St. Mary came in at 9.2 percent, a drop from the 10.1 percent unemployment in September. St. Mary’s workforce in October was 22,217 compared to the 22,539 people in the workforce in September.
The state’s unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent in December, down from 5.5 percent in November, according to not-seasonally-adjusted data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment rates also fell or stayed the same in all nine of the state’s metropolitan statistical areas, a state Workforce Commission news release said.
Not-seasonally-adjusted data represent a snapshot of employment but are not adjusted for seasonal factors. The Louisiana Workforce Commission released seasonally-adjusted data for the state on Jan. 20.
Not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates for Louisiana’s metropolitan statistical areas in December were as follows:
—Alexandria: 5.9 percent, unchanged from November and up from 5.1 percent in December 2015.
—Baton Rouge: 4.6 percent, down from 4.7 percent in November and up from 4.1 percent in December 2015.
—Hammond: 6.1 percent, unchanged from November and up from 5.8 percent in December 2015.
—Houma: 5.8 percent, down from 5.9 percent in November and up from 5.1 percent in December 2015.
—Lafayette: 6.1 percent, down from 6.3 percent in November and up from 5.6 percent in December 2015.
—Lake Charles: 4.4 percent, down from 4.5 percent in November and up from 4.2 percent in December 2015.
—Monroe: 5.5 percent, down from 5.7 percent in November and up from 5.1 percent in December 2015.
—New Orleans: 4.8 percent, down from 5.0 percent in November and up from 4.6 percent in December 2015.
—Shreveport: 5.7 percent, down from 6.0 percent in November and up from 5.4 percent in December 2015.