The Baton Rouge metro area had the 17th-fastest growing economy in the United States in 2015, thanks to boosts provided by nondurable goods as well as the finance, insurance and real estate sectors.
As The Associated Press reports, federal Bureau of Economic Analysis growth numbers released today show that the Baton Rouge and Lake Charles metro areas were among two of the fastest growing economies in the United States last year.
Baton Rouge’s economy grew 5.4% in 2015 while the Lake Charles economy grew a healthy 8.3%, largely due to an increase in nondurable goods manufacturing, oil and refining.
Louisiana also is home to two of last year’s fastest shrinking economies—Houma-Thibodaux (No. 2) and Lafayette (No. 5).
Monroe and New Orleans posted above-average growth, expanding 2.8 and 2.6%, respectively. New Orleans was also boosted by nondurable manufacturing, while Monroe saw a big expansion in the computer-driven information sector.
Shreveport-Bossier City was nearly flat, growing 0.2%, while Alexandria saw its economy shrink 1.6%, also one of the 50 worst performances nationwide.
The nation’s 382 metro areas grew 2.5%, on average, in 2015.
