Baton Rouge area unemployment rate falls in August to 5.7%

The Baton Rouge metro area’s unemployment rate shrunk to 5.7% in August, down 0.2 percentage points from a 5.9% rate in July.

However, nonseasonally adjusted data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Baton Rouge’s August 2016 rate is 0.2 percentage points above the 5.5% rate in August 2015, the Louisiana Workforce Commission says today in a news release.

Baton Rouge’s rate was well below Louisiana’s 6.7% rate for August, though the state rate fell from a 6.9% clip in July.

All but one major metro areas across the state saw decreases in their unemployment rates from July to August. However, they also suffered year-over-year increases from August 2015 to August 2016.

The rates for the state’s other major metro areas:

• New Orleans: 6.2%, down from 6.3% in July and up from 6.1% in August 2015
• Lafayette: 7.6%, down from 7.8% in July and up from 6.5% in August 2015
• Shreveport: 7.1%, down from 7.3% in July and up from 7% in August 2015
• Monroe: 6.7%, down from 6.8% in July and down from 6.8% in August 2015
• Hammond: 7.5%, down from 7.8% in July and up from 7.3% in August 2015
• Lake Charles: 5.4%, down from 5.5% in July and unchanged from August 2015
• Houma: 7%, down from 7.2% in July and up from 5.7% in August 2015
• Alexandria: 7%, down from 7.2% in July and up from 6.6% in August 2015

See LWC’s full release for more unemployment statistics.