BATON ROUGE – Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 4.6 percent in December.
This is the eighth consecutive month the unemployment rate has declined.
Compared to December 2016, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has decreased 1.4 percentage points. The last time the unemployment rate was lower was in March 2008.
Among Louisiana’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), the Shreveport MSA gained 300 jobs from November 2017. It is down 2,100 jobs from December 2016.
Seasonally adjusted nonfarm job data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows that nonfarm employment increased by 5,500 jobs from December 2016. This is the eighth straight gain in nonfarm jobs over-the-year.
The number of seasonally adjusted private sector jobs increased by 10,500 from December 2016. This is the ninth straight month that the private sector has added jobs over-the-year.
The civilian labor force, or the number of people who are employed in addition to those looking for work increased by 18,375 from November 2017.
The number of seasonally adjusted employed individuals increased by 19,196 from November 2017.
Industries that showed the largest gains for seasonally adjusted jobs:
• Construction gained 1,300 jobs for the month and is up 10,100 jobs for the year.
• Manufacturing gained 1,100 jobs for the month and is up 1,400 jobs for the year.
• Leisure and Hospitality gained 600 jobs for the month and is up 5,500 jobs for the year. Add One
• Education & Health Services gained 300 jobs for the month and is up 3,100 jobs for the year.
However, Mining and Logging, which includes industries in the oil and gas sector, lost 300 jobs for the month.