Unemployment in B.R. drops while area records job losses

A pair of mixed reports came from the Louisiana Workforce Commission today, with one showing Baton Rouge area unemployment dropping by 0.6% in August to 7.6%, and another showing a loss of 4,900 jobs over the past year. Statewide, nonfarm employment stood at an estimated 1.9 million for August, an increase of about 1,600 jobs from a month ago and 30,300 from August 2010. Baton Rouge had a total of 357,500 jobs in August, a decrease of 1,500 from July and 4,900 from a year ago. Locally, the service sector accounted for 4,100 of those job losses on the year. Meanwhile, non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for Louisiana and its eight metropolitan statistical areas all showed improvement for the second month in a row in August. The unemployment rate in Baton Rouge fell to 7.6% from 8.2% in July. That’s slightly worse than the state unemployment rate of 7.3% in August, also a drop of 0.6% from a month ago. The U.S. rate improved marginally to 9.1% in August from 9.3% in July. Some analysts suggest recent drops in the unemployment rate are due, in part, to a high number of people who are no longer considered unemployed because their unemployment benefits have been exhausted. For more detailed information on August 2011 employment data for Louisiana, visit the LWC website here.