Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Unemployment rates in Louisiana s metropolitan areas improved near the end of 2020, and some areas are beginning to approach pre-pandemic levels of employment, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.
The state s unemployment rate ended 2020 at 7.2%, a drop of 1.3 percentage points from November. But Louisiana still had its worst average unemployment rate in more than three decades in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of Louisiana s major metropolitan areas mirrored that trend, seeing improvement in December. But even with those improvements, most metro areas had record-high average unemployment rates for the year.
The exceptions to the trend are the Alexandria and Monroe metro areas, which have already matched or exceeded pre-pandemic norms.
Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Louisiana ended 2020 with an unemployment rate of 7.2% in December, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking the lowest rate since March.
On the year, Louisiana had an average unemployment rate of 8.8% an increase of four percentage points from the 4.8% in 2019. It was the highest average unemployment rate the state has had in a year since 1988 when the rate was 10.9%. Louisiana weathered a global pandemic and multiple hurricanes in 2020,” said Louisiana Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Dejoie. The job gains we are witnessing shows the resiliency of the people of Louisiana. Storm recovery and the potential of the newly released COVID-19 vaccines point to a much brighter 2021.”
Unemployment claims fall across Louisiana
Louisiana saw initial unemployment claims drop for the week ending Jan. 16, the Louisiana Workforce Commission announced Friday, giving the state two consecutive weeks of falling claims after they spiked to begin 2021.
The state had 15,424 initial claims for the week of Jan. 16, a decline of 24% from the previous week and a drop of 31.4% from the week of Jan. 2, when new claims spiked. The week of Jan. 2 saw the most new claims since early September, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
Continued claims claims where a worker files for an additional week of benefits fell significantly from the week of Jan. 9. For the week of Jan. 16, Louisiana had 59,881 continued claims, a drop of 28.4% from the previous week.
Louisiana s gaming industry likely lost more than $830 million in 2020, and at least 4,790 employees were laid off at some point during the year, according to data from the Louisiana Workforce Commission and the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.
Through November, Louisiana s video gaming, racetrack slot machines, land-based casinos and riverboat casinos combined to lose more than $829.7 million in revenue compared to the same period in 2019. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board s revenue reports do not include all casinos, such as Indian casinos.
Video gaming machines stationed at bars, restaurants, hotels, racetracks and truck stops have seen revenue fall by about $76.5 million through November a 13.2% loss from the same period in 2019.