Louisiana was among 23 states to see its unemployment rate fall last month compared to February, according to new Labor Department figures out this morning. The Louisiana unemployment rate slipped 0.1 percentage points to 6.6% in March, the figures show. The local unemployment rate is down from 7% in January, but up from 5.5% in March a year ago.
As The Associated Press reports, unemployment rates were unchanged in 15 states last month, while 12 saw their rates rise as employers pulled back on hiring and a slowdown in oil and gas drilling caused big job losses in some states.
The biggest job cuts occurred in states with large oil and gas drilling, led by Texas, which lost 25,400 jobs, and followed by Oklahoma, which lost 12,900. Pennsylvania lost 12,700, the third-largest decline. A sharp fall in oil prices since last June has caused oil and gas companies to cut back on drilling.
The cutbacks in oil and gas production also have led to job losses in North Dakota, which had experienced an oil and gas boom since the recession. The boom sent the state’s unemployment rate falling to the lowest in the nation.
But in February its unemployment rate rose and the state no longer had the lowest unemployment rate nationwide. It rose again in March, to 3.1%. Nebraska now has the lowest rate, at 2.6 percent. Nevada reported the highest unemployment rate, at 7.1%.
Nationwide, employers added just 126,000 jobs in March, the fewest in a year. The U.S. unemployment rate remained 5.5%.
