Stats point to slowdown in second quarter

St. Mary Parish’s on-again, off-again recovery from the fall 2018 plunge in energy prices was off again in June, at least to judge by last month’s parish sales tax collections.
More information will come from the release of June unemployment figures, expected Friday. July sales tax figures are likely to be affected by Tropical Storm Barry, the resulting lack of business during a weekend-long, parishwide blackout, and spending on storm preparation and repair.
State and local statistics show an economy that started 2019 on a roll but slowed in the spring.
St. Mary’s 4.3% sales tax brought in a total of $3.02 million in June, down about 4% from June 2018, according to the St. Mary Sales & Use Tax Department. The June 2019 figures were up from $2.8 million in May.
Total second-quarter collections were $8.9 million, down 1.5% from May-June 2018.
St. Mary’s first-quarter collections were up 1.5% from 2018 to about $9.3 million.
June hotel-motel tax collections, which are heavily influenced by energy industry activity in the region, were down $6,400 or 5.3% from June 2018. For the year, hotel-motel collections are down about 0.5%.
The state got mixed signals about recent economic activity in recently released statistics.
The state’s gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.8% in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That made Louisiana the 10th-fastest growing economy in the United States.
“This latest ranking is further proof that Louisiana’s economy continues to grow and move in the right direction,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards in a press release. “We have seen the largest unemployment decline since last year of any state, the lowest it has been in 11 years, personal income is at an all-time high and for the first time in a long time, our state debt is declining.”
Non-durable goods manufacturing was the main contributor to growth, contributing 2.09 percentage points.
Retail trade contributed 0.82 percentage points and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction contributed 0.80 percentage points.
In April, the state posted a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.5%, a record low. The previous record was 3.6% in April 2008.
“We have a lot of work left to do, but in Louisiana, our future looks brighter than ever, and these numbers only reinforce that,” Edwards said.
But the state’s unemployment rate, following the trend shown in the St. Mary sales tax collections, has been trending upward since April. Jobless rose to 4.1% in May and 5.3% in June.
The unemployment rate measures how many people are seeking jobs but can’t find them.