In China and the US, economic recovery takes a disappointing turn

In China and the US, economic recovery takes a disappointing turn

Nevada economic recovery continues in July but at slower pace

Nevada economic recovery continues in July but at slower pace

The unemployment rate fell another tenth in July, finishing the month at 7.7 percent.

The state is now at 92 percent of its prerecession peak and more than 100,000 jobs higher than July 2020 after the pandemic shut down the state’s economy.

Most of the damage remains within the casino and hotel industry, which is still down 67,000 jobs compared to before the pandemic hit. By comparison, food services is 97 percent recovered and retail trade employment is 100 percent recovered.

All three metropolitan reporting areas added more jobs in July. The Las Vegas area added 6,500 jobs and the Reno-Sparks area 500. Carson City added 100 jobs to its total.

Altogether, Carson City reported 30,800 jobs in July. The vast majority were in service-providing occupations, 26,600. Of those, 8,900 were federal, state, local and school district government jobs.

Reno had a total of 245,300 people working in July. That includes 44,900 mining, construction and manufacturing jobs as well as 26,900 government jobs.

In the Las Vegas reporting area, 953,100 were employed as of the end of July. Leisure and hospitality make up the largest single sector there with 224,900 workers followed by trade with 199,500 employed.

David Schmidt, chief economist for the Department of Employment, Rehabilitation and Training, said while the data is positive, it still shows significant disruption to the economy as businesses seek to recover from the pandemic.

Total employment in the state finished July at 1.33 million, a gain of 107,800 over July 2020.

Report: Louisiana’s economic recovery is one of the slowest in the nation

Even as the U.S. economy bounces back from the COVID-19-induced turmoil of the 2020, Louisiana is facing one of the slowest recoveries among the individual states, according to a new economic forecast from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

The forecast for the third quarter, by Prof. Gary Wagner from the UL B.I. Moody III School of Business, shows that Louisiana ranks 46th among U.S. states for economic recovery. Between the first and second quarters of 2021, Louisiana netted no new jobs, according to Wagner’s report.

“Louisiana now ranks in the bottom five states in terms of the recovery, having regained only 39% of the 285,000 jobs lost in 2020 due to the pandemic,” Wagner wrote in the forecast. “Although the unemployment rate fell from 7.5 to 7.1% between the first and second quarters, the entire reduction was the result of people dropping out of the labor force.”

An estimated 58,000 people in Louisiana are no longer working or looking for work due to the pandemic, Wagner reported. Over the next four quarters, Louisiana is projected to gain 29,000 jobs — a reduction of 60% from the 71,000 projected in Wagner’s last forecast.

Though the state had no net job growth from the first quarter to the second, its year-over-year job growth increased 5.6%. That rate is expected to drop to 2.4% in the third quarter of 2021 before dropping again to 1.3% in the fourth quarter.

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Louisiana’s unemployment rate for the second quarter was 7.1%, declining from 7.4%. But Wagner noted that the reduction in unemployment rate was only because 58,000 Louisiana residents left the workforce.

Outside of the Lake Charles metro statistical area, 43,000 Louisiana residents left the labor force, and about half of those live in the New Orleans area.

Wagner said the unemployment rate should continue to drop over the next several quarters. He projects the state’s unemployment rate will fall to 6.8% and fall to 6.1% by the third quarter of 2022.

Nearly all of Louisiana’s nine metropolitan statistical areas missed Wagner’s job projections in the second quarter. Only the Houma-Thibodaux area exceeded expectations, with 82,600 jobs compared to the projected 80,700.

Wagner raised expectations for Houma-Thibodaux in his latest forecast, bumping the third quarter job projection up by 1.2%, from 81,700 to 82,700.

Alexandria had 59,800 jobs in the second quarter, falling about 0.5% short of the projected 60,100. For the third quarter, Wagner lowered the projection 0.5% from 60,300 to 60,000.

Baton Rouge had 385,700 jobs, about 1.7% below the forecasted 392,300. Wagner lowered the third quarter projection 2.2% from 395,900 to 387,100.

Hammond had 45,800 jobs in the second quarter, about 0.7% shy of the projected 46,100. The third quarter projection for Hammond fell 0.9% from 46,400 to 46,000.

Lafayette had 191,100 jobs, which was just slightly short of the projected 191,200. Wagner actually raised the projection for the third quarter for Lafayette, bumping it up 0.1% from 192,700 to 192,900.

The Lake Charles area had 92,500 in the second quarter, falling 3.1% short of the projected 95,500. The third quarter projection for Lake Charles fell 4% from 97,300 to 93,400.

Monroe had 74,200, about 0.5% shy of the projected 74,600. The third quarter projection dropped 0.7% from 75,100 to 74,600.

New Orleans had 523,700 jobs in the second quarter, about 1.8% short of the forecasted 533,300. The third quarter projections fell 1.6% from 539,100 to 530,700.

The Shreveport-Bossier area had 168,100 jobs, falling 0.2% short of the projected 168,400. The third quarter projections dropped 0.4% from 169,800 to 169,200.