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With the media’s attention turned towards the nationally experienced recession, it seems like there is little good news being posted about jobs across the country. Despite this there are employers adding new positions in various places. For example, the newest data from the Louisiana Workforce Commission shows that the state added a total of 4,300 new non-farm jobs during the month of March.

“It is very clear that Louisiana’s employment picture continues to outperform the rest of the economy,” the executive director of the Commission, Tim Barfield, said in a recent statement. “Nonfarm job totals every month this year have outpaced the totals from a year ago.”

Of Louisiana’s 8 metro areas, six of them saw an increase added jobs last month. Baton Rouge, where employers created 2,100 positions, saw the most growth. New Orleans, with 1,700 new jobs, came next, followed by the Shreveport-Bossier area, 700 new positions, Lafayette, 400 additional jobs, Houma-Thibodaux and Monroe, both of which added 300 positions. The Lake Charles metro saw no change in the number of jobs while Alexandria lost 100 positions during March.

A Year-over-year comparison from March 2008 to March 2009 showed that the state saw the largest increases in job in the service and construction industries. The latter may come as a surprise, considering the fact the many other states are seeing huge decline in construction employment. The largest decrease in jobs in Louisiana occurred in the manufacturing sector.

Despite the addition of new jobs, Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly from 5.7 percent in February to 5.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The discrepancy in sets of statistics could be caused by an increase in the number of people that call the area home.

Louisiana’s jobless rate continues to show that the state is doing better than many other areas throughout the country. During the same period the national unemployment rate jumped form 8.5 percent to 8.1 percent.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 1:27 pm and is filed under job search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.