St. Mary's jobless rate dips in February

St. Mary’s employment climbed slightly to more than 18,000 in February, while generally positive reports also came from the state and federal governments.
St. Mary nonfarm employment rose by 69 to 18,002 from January to February, while the unemployment rate dropped from 5.4% to 5.0%, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.
The parish’s employment has grown by 690 from February 2021, when the unemployment rate was 7.3%.
Across the region from Acadia to St. Mary and south of Evangeline, employment grew by about 3,300 in February, and the jobless rate fell from 4.1% to 3.8%, commission statistics say.
Combined employment in Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne grew by about 1,900 in February, while the unemployment rate fell from 4.4% to 3.9%.
Locally, employment has been depressed for more than seven years as energy prices slumped, but the price of domestic crude oil has been on an upward trend since April 2020. That trend has accelerated since fall 2021 and more so since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. May contracts were selling Monday for about $103 a barrel for West Texas intermediate..
St. Mary shipbuilding and repair employment grew by about a quarter to roughly 1,000 in the year ending last fall.
Statewide, the February unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, was unchanged from January at 4.3%. The rate is down two full points from February 2021, and employment is up by about 20,000 year over year.
The 4.3% is the fourth-lowest unadjusted rate for February that has been reported by the commission.
Among the fastest growing Louisiana sectors:
—Government employment was up 4,400 in February from the previous month.
—Professional and business services rose by 3,400 month over month.
—Education and health services were up 2,900 from January.
Also in the February report:
—Leisure and hospitality, a sector hit hard by COVID travel and occupancy restrictions, gained 19,800 jobs from February 2021.
—Professional and business services gained 12,100 from February 2021.
—Construction gained 9,400 jobs year over year.
Nationally, the nation added 430,000 jobs in March, according to the Commerce Department.
That figure, which would have been about twice the number needed to be considered robust before COVID-19, was considered a slight disappointment by some analysts as the nation continues to struggle with the economic impact of the pandemic.
The struggle continues in another arena, too. The economy’s fourth quarter 2021 growth rate of more than 5% and the 7.8% February inflation rate are the highest since the 1980s, forcing the Fed and other government economists to seek a workable balance between economic recovery and the need to control the increase in prices.