Falling off: Baton Rouge lost 1,400 jobs in November, but continues to lead the state in job creation with 10,500 jobs gained over the year, according to seasonally adjusted figures from the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Meanwhile, Louisiana’s unemployment rate dipped to 6.2% for the month as more people left the labor force. The Associated Press reports the state’s jobless rate fell from 6.3% in October, but remained above the 5.9% level from November 2015. Fewer people reported having jobs and fewer people were looking. The number of unemployed Louisianans was 131,000 in November, down 3,000 from October. Louisiana kept the third-highest jobless rate among states, with Alaska worst at 6.8%. The nationwide jobless rate fell to 4.6% from October’s 4.9.%. The U.S. Labor Department released both sets of figures today, adjusted to cancel out seasonal changes.
Unchanged: Louisiana’s tally of active oil and gas rigs remains unchanged this week. According to Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes, the state still has 47 active rigs, just as it did a week ago. Louisiana had 58 rigs around this time last year. Nationally, the tally of active oil and gas rigs increased by 13 this week to 637 from 624 last week. It’s the fifth week in a row that the U.S. rig count has increased. Around this time last year, there were 709 active rigs in the United States.
A positive outlook: Aerospace parts maker Honeywell International today forecast its 2017 organic sales growth rate to improve for the first time in three years, partly helped by the stabilizing oil and gas market. Reuters reports the company, which has a Baton Rouge facility, expects organic sales to grow in a range of 1-3% next year. It also predicted higher overall demand in 2017, particularly in the oil and gas market and high-growth regions including China and India. Honeywell’s Chief Financial Officer Thomas Szlosek on a conference call said the company is seeing more positive sentiment from customers and signs of a slight recovery that’s freeing up projects that had been delayed. Oil prices have rise nearly 48% this year to about $55 a barrel, boosted by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision to curb oil output. Read the full story.
