Tri-parishes see hike in jobless numbers: LWC

Records from the Louisiana Workforce Commission show Lafourche Parish still ranks among the state’s lowest in unemployment, at 5.0 percent in December 2009. Terrebonne followed closely at 5.3 percent, leaving St. Mary to trail at 9.0 percent.

Initial unemployment insurance claims rose sharply in Louisiana for the week ending Jan. 9. New claims increased statewide from 3,618 to 6,033. Officials attributed the rise in claims to the first full workweek after the holidays and the first week of a new quarter for new and renewed claims, according to a press release issued by the commission.

In Terrebonne Parish, new claims totaled 119, with 1,224 continued. Numbers in Lafourche and St. Mary were slightly lower. Lafourche had 92 initial claims with almost 1,000 continued, while St. Mary had 82 new claims and 1,034 continued.

Claims were the highest for construction, retail trade and health care sectors. Statewide, the construction industry saw the highest number of claims, with 1,285 new claims and nearly 12,000 continued.

“A lot of this is seasonal in nature,” explained Patty Granier, a labor market specialist for the Louisiana Workforce Commission. The number of unemployed claims increases because of year-end contracts and colder weather which cuts in to the amount of work construction crews can perform, she said. “It’s a pretty typical, seasonal pattern.”

There were no new claims for textile mills or leather and allied products.

The start of a new quarter allows individuals who were previously filling for benefits to re-file if they are still eligible. “Typically, we always have an increase for claims during the first week of a new quarter,” said Granier. For the following week, claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 4,945 statewide.

Granier expects the number of claims to drop even more over the next few weeks.

However, continued claims rose statewide from 65,804 to 68,337 for the week ending Jan. 9. During this period last year, continued claims neared 38,000.

Tensions eased as continued claims decreased a week later to 66,735.

A report released by the workforce commission – based on quarterly tax returns from employers who pay for unemployment insurance for their workers – shows the number of people employed in Terrebonne, Lafourche and Assumption parishes during the second quarter of 2009 decreased by 1.5 percent when compared to the first quarter.

During the second quarter of 2008, over 101,000 people were employed in those parishes. Only 97,854 were employed during the second quarter of 2009: 55,368 in Terrebonne, 37,715 in Lafourche and 4,771 in Assumption.

The average weekly wage for Louisiana workers during the second quarter of 2009 was $753, according to the report.

The state’s unemployment rate was 7.5 percent in December 2009, returning to levels seen earlier in the year, said the commission in a release last week. Louisiana is tied for 14th lowest in the nation and third lowest in the Southern region, which holds an unemployment rate of 9.6 for December. The U.S. rate was 10 percent.

“The trend shows a fairly even picture going back to July 2009, and it shows we’ve consistently outperformed the nation and the South,” said Louisiana Workforce Commission executive director Curt Eysink in the release.