According to University of Louisiana at Lafayette economist, Doctor Gary Wagner, Louisiana’s economy is chugging right along for most of the state. He says 2023 has been a good year for job growth.
“Over the last nine months or so, the state has actually performed really well,” said Wagner. “We’ve gained 56,000 jobs or so, which is the highest rate since 2007 if you throw out those couple of pandemic months.”
Wagner predicts Louisiana will gain another 30,000 jobs over the next 12 months. He says job growth is expected to be strong in the Lafayette, New Orleans, Monroe and Alexandria areas.
But he expects the Houma/Thibodaux area will continue to struggle, because of two major factors.
“The oil and gas industry really declined in 2014, hasn’t recovered yet and on top of that you had a significant hurricane event a couple of years ago and they are struggling from that,” said Wagner.
Wagner also took a look at the state’s housing market. He says home prices are on the decline in some areas of the country, but he hasn’t seen that in Louisiana and doesn’t expect to see it in the near future.
“So we might see home prices dip in the negative number a little bit in the coming year, but I expect them to be relatively flat,” said Wagner.
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