BATON ROUGE – Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October dropped a full percentage point to 4.3% while the Shreveport Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) almost followed suit.
The Shreveport MSA was down to 4.7 percent in October, a droppage of .9 percent in September. It also down from 6.4 percent in October 2016.
Compared to the same time last year, Louisiana’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 1.6 percent lower. May 2008 was the last time the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was this low.
Not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment increased to 1,992,000 for October. Not seasonally adjusted private-sector employment increased to 1,667,900 for October. Monthly data that is not seasonally adjusted does not minimize the changes in any time series which result from normal annual occurrences such as Christmas, summer vacations and weather patterns.
The not seasonally adjusted civilian labor force increased to 2,009,107. This figure represents the number of people who are employed, in addition to those looking for work.
“Non-seasonally adjusted data shows that Louisiana gained more than 11,000 jobs,” said Ava Dejoie, Executive Director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Unemployment rates declined in all LA metro areas for the second straight month.
