Louisiana’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.3 percent in March, the lowest number since the start of the pandemic. Louisiana Workforce Commission Secretary Ava Dejoie says despite the high unemployment figure there are a lot of jobs out there to be had.
“We have employers that are begging for employees across all sectors so there are certainly jobs out there for people to go into,” said Dejoie.
Dejoie says their HiRE site currently has tens of thousands of job openings.
Since March of 2020, New Orleans is down 55,400 jobs, Baton Rouge, 18,100 jobs, Lake Charles 17,400 jobs, Shreveport 11,900 jobs, and Lafayette 12,900 jobs.
Dejoie encouraged everyone without a job to go get vaccinated and when it is safe for you to return to work to do so.
“Now is the time that employers are really clamoring for people and it is a job-seekers market,” said Dejoie.
1,800 leisure and hospitality jobs were added from February to March.
The high unemployment rate is reflected in the state’s still high number of unemployment recipients. Dejoie said 264,000 people received unemployment insurance benefits in Louisiana last week.
“We are nearing the nine billion, nine billion with a B, in payments since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Dejoie.
Comments