According to data from the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s latest economic indicator dashboard, the Capital Region drove over 50% of Louisiana’s job growth in March.
The nine-parish Capital Region, which is home to about 20% of Louisiana residents, created more than half of the state’s 6,700 new jobs last month.
The Capital Region’s labor force, defined as residents who are working or looking for work, increased by 7,000 in March—the largest single-month gain in two-and-a-half years. The number of employed workers in the Capital Region increased by 6,500, suggesting that the vast majority of those entering the labor force are successfully finding jobs.
Other key takeaways from the dashboard include:
- Unemployment in the Capital Region rose to 3.9% last month. Despite that uptick, the Capital Region still boasts Louisiana’s lowest unemployment rate.
- The number of unique job postings in the Capital Region remained mostly the same from February to March. The jobs with the largest single-month increases in demand were customer service representatives, lab technicians and nurse practitioners.
- From April 21-27, average daily rates at Capital Region hotels were higher than they were during the same week in 2022 when Garth Brooks performed at Tiger Stadium.
- The Capital Region led Louisiana in new building permits in 2023 but trailed out-of-state peer metros.
BRAC’s monthly economic indicator dashboards look at several data points in an effort to illustrate the current state of the Capital Region’s economy. Explore the data here.
