Capital Region loses 8,000 jobs over year

The Louisiana Workforce Commission reports today that the Capital Region lost 8,000 jobs from November 2008 through last month, many of them in the service sector. In the same time period, the state lost 42,200 nonfarm jobs, including 7,000 in the New Orleans area. For the month of November, however, the commission reports a gain of 1,800 nonfarm jobs in the Baton Rouge area and 1,500 in the Crescent City region when compared with October. The group says the state unemployment rate decreased from 7.1% in October to 6.3% in November. Shreveport and Houma had marginal job gains last month, while the state’s nonfarm workforce grew by 2,900 jobs; much of that gain was attributed to season retail hiring. Overall, labor-market specialist Patty Granier says last month’s statewide growth underscores the relative resilience of Louisiana’s economy amid the national economic slump. “We have a very diversified economy, and the over-the-year change shows we are not completely secure from the effects of the national recession,” she says. The commission estimated employment at about 1.9 million, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis for November, and about 350,900 for the nine-parish Baton Rouge area.