American Press

Next to New Orleans, Lake Charles has had the second most job losses in the state by percentage of its overall workforce. Economist Loren Scott said the New Orleans numbers aren’t surprising since tourism and hospitality are so important to the city and both have been severely curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Scott said Lake Charles is second because of its heavy petrochemical presence and because it is the state’s largest gaming market. Louisiana casinos were shut down during the early stages of the pandemic and are now operating at half-capacity.

Next to the leisure and hospitality sector, Scott said construction in Louisiana experienced the second-most job losses. Plants and refineries have laid off contractors, he said, and planned investments in the petrochemical industry have been delayed.

The state’s unemployment fund currently stands at about $245 million. Nexstar Broadcasting and brproud.com published The Livingston Parish News story about the Workforce Commission beginning the process of borrowing money from the federal government in order to continue paying unemployment claims.

State officials are still hoping Congress will come through with more financial aid that they can use to replenish their jobless funds. Otherwise, the state would have to impose a solvency tax on businesses of up to 30 percent of their quarterly unemployment tax rate because more of their wage base becomes taxable.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, said Saturday President Trump and FEMA have approved Louisiana for one of the first grants under a new program signed into law by the president. The grant will help fund enhanced benefits of $400 per week, per applicant, a drop from the $600 per week the unemployed received until July 31. The grants would be retroactive to Aug. 1.

Economist Stephen Barnes said Louisiana still has about 450,000 people getting unemployment benefits. Continued claims for benefits fell to nearly 300,000 last week compared to the prior week’s total of over $327,000. The continued claims were above the comparable figure of over 17,000 for the week ending Aug. 10, 2019.

Jobs losses for the year are estimated to be about 105,000, or about 5.3 percent of the workforce. Scott said that would represent the state’s worst recession since the 1980s when the losses happened over six years. This time, it only took two quarters.

Scott did have some good news. He is predicting a recovery during the second half of this year. We hope he is right and that Congress comes through with more financial aid. Businesses have suffered enough during the pandemic.