Construction continues to be one of Louisiana’s strongest sectors, with new unemployment figures from the Associated Builders and Contractors showing the state’s rate fell by 1.2 percentage points from May to June, settling at 5.6%.
That’s the lowest level of construction unemployment recorded yet this year in Louisiana, according to the nonseasonally adjusted figures. The sector unemployment rate began the year at 8.1% in January, and then fell to 6.9% in February, only to jump back up to 7.8% in March and then decline to 7.3% in April and 6.8% in May. In June of last year, the rate was 1.3 percentage points higher than this year, at 6.9%.
The 5.6% rate is also the lowest for construction in Louisiana during the month of June since June 2006, when it was at 4%.
As the Louisiana Workforce Commission announced earlier this week, the construction sector posted the largest job increases during June, at 3,700, during a month in which the Baton Rouge area added 10,300 jobs since June a year ago. Even so, the unemployment rate for the area jumped from 5.7% in May to 6.2% in June. The LWC downplayed the rate rise in Baton Rouge, saying it’s a sign of more people looking for work.
According to the figures from ABC, Louisiana was ranked No. 33 nationwide for its 1.3 percentage point year-over-year decline in its unemployment rate in June. As of June, 21 states had a lower construction unemployment rate than Louisiana. On a year-over-year basis, construction employment rates fell in 45 states. South Dakota had the nation’s lowest rate, at 1.8%, while Mississippi had the highest rate, 9.9%. The U.S. construction unemployment rate was 6.3% last month, down from 8.2% in June 2014.
See construction sector unemployment rates for all states in June.
