As markets around the world tumble, some people in New Orleans are on high alert.

"They say the darkest days are coming and that just freaks me out, so it's making me hold onto my money even tighter right now," said New Orleans resident Iris Davis.

Carla Guignard agrees, saying she and her husband are keeping a close eye on the situation.

"We're worried about our retirement. We may be putting that off a couple years," she said.

The economic forecast isn't pretty, and economic analyst Wade Ragas says the problems are widespread.

"What is happening to the world economy is unprecedented," Ragas said.

It’s worldwide turbulence, Ragas says will likely ripple through New Orleans. He’s especially concerned about job cuts.

"I expect our unemployment rate to go from the 5 percent level where it is now, we'll probably at some point in this event cross 8 percent. I don't know if we'll go to 10 percent which I think will happen nationally, but I expect we'll see maybe a 3 percent move. That's 60 percent more people out of work," he said. 

Ragas says it's time for people in our area to prepare by cutting out unnecessary spending, and paying down consumer credit.

It’s difficult sometimes to see signs that a national company will cut jobs, he says, but if you work for a local firm, there are some things that could spell trouble.

"It'll be signs like, we just don't have as much work coming in as we used to. We have problems with receivables, where we're owed a lot of money and they're not paying us. Those are usually two of the bellwether items," said Ragas.

But some experts are encouraged, and don't expect our area to feel the pinch as much as other parts of the country. They say Louisiana is simply, a different market these days, with the business of hurricane recovery, federal dollars flowing in and our petrochemical industries.

While Ragas says his unemployment projections are unsettling, he believes we will get through it.

"This is not a good time to job hop. You should be looking at how to keep the employment you've got. You should be worried about your employer doing well. So we're all going to have to pull together on this thing, and be a very competitive environment," said Ragas.