While Louisiana’s oil and gas industry continues to feel the blow of low oil prices, the construction industry continues to boom, as evidenced by the latest unemployment figures from the Associated Builders and Contractors.
The unemployment rate among construction workers in the state fell to 5.2% in August, down from 6.1% during August last year. While the sector unemployment rate last month represented a 0.5 percentage point rise from the month previous—during which the rate reached a 2015 low of 4.7% in July—Louisiana is ranked as having the nation’s 20th-lowest rate among construction workers in the U.S.
According to August jobs figures released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission on Tuesday, the nine-parish Capital Region reached a record high 404,200 workers last month and saw its overall unemployment rate fall to 5.5%, down from 6.8% during August 2014. Roughly 7,300 more people were employed in the Baton Rouge metro area last month than in August 2014. About 700 construction jobs were added between July and August, the report shows, and 2,600 jobs were added year-over-year to a total of 53,900 construction jobs.
Nationally, the construction employment picture has continued to improve from last year, according to the ABC report out this morning. The nonseasonally adjusted construction unemployment rates for the country and 45 states were down in August on a year-over-year basis.
The U.S. unemployment rate for the sector fell to 6.1% in August, down from 7.7% in August last year. North Dakota had the nation’s lowest unemployment rate among construction workers last month, 1.7%, though that figure is up from a 1.1% rate in August 2014. New Mexico had the highest rate at 9.1%, up from 7.6% a year previous.
See the complete construction jobs report from ABC.
—Steve Sanoski
