BATON ROUGE, La. — A new report shows Louisiana reached a milestone in May by hitting a record 2.01 million nonfarm jobs, keeping employment above the 2 million mark for four consecutive months. Leaders for a Better Louisiana released its Quarterly Economic Update on Tuesday, showing the state added 16,700 jobs over the year.
The job expansion is primarily powered by industrial construction, with the construction sector adding 9,300 jobs, which is more than any other industry. The growth was led by the Baton Rouge, Monroe, and Lake Charles metropolitan areas. In Monroe, job numbers were lifted by construction of the Meta data center in Richland Parish, while Southwest Louisiana liquefied natural gas projects boosted the Lake Charles area. Conversely, the Houma and Shreveport regions experienced the largest job declines.
"Louisiana’s economy reached some impressive milestones in the last quarter, even as the average job growth in the South slowed from last quarter’s report," said Adam Knapp, Chief Executive Officer of Leaders for a Better Louisiana. "This current construction-led expansion continues to push state policymakers to address workforce needs across the state as well as efforts to support more broad-based job expansion across all sectors."
Louisiana is competing well against other Southern states, ranking fourth for both nonfarm job growth and real gross domestic product expansion among 16 states in the region. The state's real GDP grew 2.7 percent over the year, outpacing the Southern average of 2.2 percent and matching the national rate. Additionally, Louisiana climbed six spots to rank 31st nationally on the Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, marking the largest improvement in the South following 2024 tax reforms.
Despite these gains, the report highlights several structural challenges. The economic growth relies heavily on capital projects rather than new business formation. While new business applications have risen 48 percent since 2019, that growth rate ranks 15th out of the 16 Southern states. Furthermore, the state's 4.5 percent unemployment rate in May remained higher than the regional average of 4.1 percent. Homeowners also face heavy cost burdens, as the average annual property insurance premium of $5,986 is roughly 2.4 times the national average of $2,543.
Weekly unemployment claims fell about 32 percent over the year, dropping from approximately 13,900 to 9,400. While part of the decline stems from a stronger job market, it is also tied to Act 412 of 2024, which reduced the maximum duration for unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 12 weeks starting in Jan.
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