Louisiana averaged about 0.4% job growth over the course of last year, adding roughly 8,117 jobs since the end of 2016, according to a new Governing magazine analysis of Labor Department data.
As modest as the gains were, any growth is a reversal of what Louisiana experienced in 2016, losing about 23,000 jobs to finish with an average job growth of negative 1.2%.
Local economists acknowledged mid-year Louisiana was crawling its way out of an 18-month employment recession. The months-long hemorrhaging of jobs came during a period when much of the country elsewhere saw growth. Governing reports, however, that growth slowed in about 30 states last year.
And states with strong growth—like Texas which averaged a 2.5% gain in jobs—were mostly in the South and West. Mississippi—Louisiana’s other neighbor—had 1.6% growth.
Only 10 states recorded year-over-year gains exceeding 2.2%, the magazine says.
Nevada—which enjoyed rapid growth leading up to the Great Recession before its housing market collapsed—experienced the top growth averaging 3.3% over the 12-month period ending December.
Right behind Nevada are Oregon (2.7%) and Utah (2.6%).
