National, Local Job Trends Show Better Signs for Louisiana

08/13/2020
Over the last few weeks, a trend has emerged showing less Louisianans filing for unemployment than previous weeks. This week saw this pattern continue, with just under 10,000 people filing for unemployment, a decrease of almost 3,500 from the previous week. This was, once again, a new low since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The number...

TAGS: Bureau Of Labor Statistics, COVID-19, Economic Growth, Get Louisiana Working, Jobs, jobs and opportunity

Louisiana Initial Unemployment Claims Top 440,000

04/28/2020
On Monday, Governor John Bel Edwards extended the statewide stay-at-home order to May 15. Meanwhile, the number of initial unemployment claims in Louisiana topped 440,000, and an estimate of our state’s real time unemployment rate sat at 27.5 percent. While the COVID-19 crisis is certainly raising valid concerns about public health, the economic damage inflicted by the...

TAGS: Jobs, jobs and opportunity, Unemployment, Unemployment Rate

Path Needed to Get Louisiana Working

04/25/2020
by Daniel Erspamer, CEO of the Pelican Institute Throughout our shared history, Americans – and Louisianans, in particular – have faced down many crises, from war to drought to floods to illness. Through determination, innovation and ingenuity, a strong sense of community and patriotism, and a stubborn will to succeed, we’ve prevailed. These principles are...

TAGS: COVID-19, Economy, Jobs, jobs and opportunity, Louisiana economy, Right to Work, state workers

Louisiana’s 2019 GDP Ranked Among The Worst in Nation

04/07/2020
As economic news continues to focus on the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) recently released report further underscored Louisiana’s pre-coronavirus economic struggles. In the final quarter of 2019, the BEA report on state Gross Domestic Products (GDP) showed the Louisiana economy grew an anemic 1.1 percent, ranking 43rd in...

TAGS: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Jobs, jobs and opportunity, Labor, legal reform, occupational licensing, tax reform

First Post-COVID-19 National Jobs Report Gives Evidence on What’s Happening in Louisiana

04/03/2020
With a record 6.6 million Americans applying for unemployment over the last month, doubling the previous record from two weeks ago, economists were dreading the latest national report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national report is now out and found that total nonfarm employment decreased by an astounding 701,000 nonfarm workers, the largest...

TAGS: Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Economy, Jobs, Labor

Last Pre-COVID-19 Louisiana Jobs Report Proves Need for Reforms

03/30/2020
While the conversations around the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 were dominating news cycles, last week’s state jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) flew under the radar. The report showed that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Louisiana for February 2020 remained a sky-high 5.2 percent, more than half a point...

TAGS: Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Economy, Jobs, jobs and opportunity, Labor, Louisiana economy

Policy Brief: Debunking the government’s pro-Medicaid report

04/17/2018
Why expanding Louisiana’s program to able-bodied adults hurts the economy By Chris Jacobs, Senior Fellow Louisiana’s Medicaid expansion helped far too few people obtain good, affordable health coverage and actually cost Louisiana desperately needed jobs. But a taxpayer-funded report released by the Louisiana Department of Health on April 10 claims that the state’s Medicaid expansion...

TAGS: Economy, Jobs, Medicaid expansion

Restoring the Right to Earn a Living

03/14/2018
In Restoring the Right to Earn a Living: A Common-Sense Solution to Occupational Licensing Job Barriers, Goldwater Institute Director of National Litigation Jon Riches examines the burdens inflicted by onerous job licensing requirements in Louisiana. And for many Louisiana job-seekers, it’s a pretty grim situation. “For too many professions, occupational licensing requirements do not exist...

TAGS: Economy, Jobs, occupational licensing, regulation