BATON ROUGE – Per revisions from Bureau of Labor & Statistics (BLS) annual benchmarking procedure, Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 4.6 percent in January.
Compared to January 2017, this figure is down 1.2 percent. The last time the unemployment rate was lower was in May 2008.
Benchmarking is the BLS’s adjustments to prior years’ data. During this procedure, survey data, used to prepare monthly reports on nonfarm employment, the labor force and unemployment rates is replaced by the actual employment data contained in the quarterly wage and tax reports filed by Louisiana employers.
Locally, the Shreveport MSA’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in January 2018, down from 6.5 percent in the same time last year.
However, the Shreveport metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) lost 2,700 jobs over the past year.
Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment in the state increased by 500 to 1,970,600 from January 2017. This is the fourth straight over-the-year gain.
From January 2017, seasonally adjusted private employment increased by 3,500 jobs to 1,645,400. This is also the fourth straight over-the-year gain.
Since December 2017, the number of seasonally adjusted private-sector jobs increased 700.
“Returning job seekers to the workplace remains an upmost priority of our agency,” said LWC Executive Director Ava Dejoie. “This latest data underscores the ongoing efforts to reduce unemployment throughout Louisiana, and we will forge ahead with the same steadfast commitment to reinforce our state’s labor market.”
The seasonally adjusted civilian labor force, or the number of people who are employed in addition to those looking for work increased by 10,252 to 2,120,732 since January 2017.
The number of seasonally adjusted employed individuals increased by 35,545 from January 2017. Compared to January 2017, the number of unemployed individuals decreased by 25,293.
Not seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment gained 800 jobs from January 2017. Over the same time period, not seasonally adjusted private-sector employment increased by 3,100.
From January 2017, the number of not seasonally adjusted employed individuals increased by 62,817 and the number of not seasonally adjusted unemployed individuals decreased by 34,941.