(WWL.com) - Louisiana now has 15 straight months of employment gains, and added 21,900 jobs from December of 2017 to December of 2018, putting the state’s unemployment at 4.9 percent. Workforce Commission chief economist Ali Bustamante says more than half of those gains came from one market.
New Orleans added 12,600 jobs from 17 to 18, and Baton Rouge added 5,200.
Lafayette looks like it’s beginning to bounce back from the slow decline of the oil and gas industry, adding 2,200 jobs from December 2017 to 2018. Bustamante says the job market in Acadiana is beginning to diversify.
The national unemployment rate remains steady at 3.9 percent.
Louisiana as a whole added 1,100 jobs from November to December of 2018.