The Baton Rouge Area Chamber is touting a new No. 9 national ranking of the Baton Rouge metro area’s payroll-to-population ratio. The ranking by Gallup shows Baton Rouge’s ratio last year was 50.5%, meaning slightly more than half of Baton Rouge area workers had jobs at which they worked at least 30 hours per week during 2014.
“With the Capital Region at an all-time high with regard to employment, we’re please but not surprised to have made this prestigious list,” says BRAC President and CEO Adam Knapp in a prepared statement. “Many consultants and economic developers believe the pay-to- population indicator to be more accurate than the unemployment rate in assessing the health of total employment.”
The Des Moines, Iowa, metro area is ranked No. 1 in the report, with a ratio of 56.5%; followed by the metro areas of Madison, Wisconsin (54.4%); Ogden, Utah (53.9%); Washington D.C (53.4%); Little Rock (51.7%); Fayetteville, Arkansas (51.7%); Omaha (51.4%) and Salt Lake City, Utah (50.6%). Baton Rouge edged out Austin, which is ranked No. 10 with a ratio of 50.4%.
As previously reported, Gallup recently ranked Louisiana No. 30 in its listing of state payroll to population data for 2014. Baton Rouge’s ratio is significantly higher than the state’s 41.9%.
The payroll-to-population metric tracks the percentage of the adult population, 18 and older, that is employed full time and works at least 30 hours per week. The metric is not seasonally adjusted, and Gallup does not count those who are self-employed, work fewer than 30 hours per week, or who are unemployed or otherwise out of the workforce.
