Louisiana’s unemployment rate rose to 6.9% in March, up from 4.5% a year ago in March.
The statistics, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, represent the first month showing the impact of the stay-at-home order that has closed many businesses across the state in attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.
Louisiana Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Dejoie said, “The state’s trajectory was positive, however the pandemic impact on our entire country and our state is unprecedented.”
She continued, “Beginning from the week ending March 29, the LWC has paid $287,394,973 directly to Louisiana residents via payouts from Louisiana’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which includes Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. The LWC will continue to process claims, and work with the federal government to get money directly to Louisiana residents as quickly as possible.”
The state’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force, or the number of people who are employed in addition to those looking for work, increased by 61,721 from 2,090,667 in March 2019 to 2,152,388 in March 2020. This is the second highest civilian labor force for the month of March in series history. From February 2020 Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force increased by 42,408.
The number of seasonally adjusted employed individuals increased by 6,682 from 1,996,265 in March 2019 to 2,002,947 in March 2020. From February 2020, the number of seasonally adjusted employed individuals increased by 2,821.
The United States saw a similar increase in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 0.9 percentage points from 3.5% in February 2020 to 4.4% in March 2020.
In a separate report, the Louisiana Workforce Commission stated initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending April 11, 2020, dropped to 79,653 from the week ending April 4, 2020, total of 102,172. For a comparison, during the week ending April 13, 2019, 1,887 initial claims were filed.
The four-week moving average of initial claims increased to 87,916 from the previous week’s average of 68,566.
The four-week moving average of continued claims increased to 102,612 from the previous week’s average of 51,725.
Claims by parish as of April 11 were: St. Landry, 1,071; Lafayette, 4,091; Evangeline, 298; Acadia, 665; St. Martin, 704; Avoyelles, 412; and Pointe Coupee, 257.
Among Louisiana’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas in March, seasonally adjusted data shows:
— Alexandria lost 500 jobs from March 2019 and 100 jobs from February 2020.
— Baton Rouge lost 1,100 jobs from March 2019 and 900 jobs from February 2020..
— Hammond remained unchanged from March 2019, but lost 100 jobs from February 2020..
— Houma lost 900 jobs from March 2019 and 900 jobs from February 2020.
— Lafayette lost 1,700 jobs from March 2019 and 500 jobs from February 2020.
— Lake Charles lost 5,800 jobs from March 2019 and 400 jobs from February 2020.
— Monroe lost 1,000 jobs March 2019 and 200 jobs from February 2020.
— New Orleans gained 1,600 jobs from March 2019, but lost 4,700 jobs from February 2020.
— Shreveport lost 1,800 jobs from March 2019 and 700 jobs from February 2020.