Continued job growth should be celebrated
One reason the Lake Charles region should be celebrating is its continued job growth.
For more than seven years — 88 months to be exact — Lake Charles has added to its employment numbers, and the Louisiana Workforce Commission reported the thriving city has done it again.
The region gained 3,500 jobs, primarily in construction, lifting its employment number to 121,000. It’s a record high for the area, according to the commission.
More than 2,000 jobs were added in the construction field in Lake Charles, while trade, transportation and utilities fell by 300.
Overall, Louisiana also did really well, with employment numbers rising to 1,998,600.
The state added 16,600 nonfarm jobs over the year in October, a gain of 0.84 percent. Sectors that posted the largest job gains over the year were manufacturing, up 4,900; education and health services, 4,400; and construction, 3,300.
LWC said the seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs have posted gains for 13 months in a row.
The mining and logging industry, which includes the oil and gas sector, also added 2,200 jobs over the year.
Louisiana’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis in October; the seasonally-adjusted U.S. rate was 3.7 percent.
The only sectors to lose jobs were professional and business services, 3,700; government, 3,000; and information, 200.
“Over the past 13 months, Louisianans have continued to re-enter the labor market into jobs that both pay well and provide support for Louisiana residents and their families,” LWC Secretary Ava Dejoie told the Insurance Journal. “This coupled with the recent news of Louisiana’s 4.3 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increase during the second quarter, which ranked 12th in the nation, shows that the state is moving in a direction that both employees and business owners can be confident in.”
The announcement is great news for the area, and we’re likely to see more of it as the industrial expansion boom continues.