NEW ORLEANS — The country is seeing its lowest unemployment rate in 50 years according to Friday’s jobs report, but in Louisiana it's more complicated.
While the state's unemployment rate is at a historic low, Louisiana is still losing jobs. The candidates running for Louisiana governor claim they can change that. It’s a claim that’s unlikely to translate into policy.
Life dramatically changed this week for more than 370 workers who got laid off at Bayou Steel in Laplace. Joseph Lewis spent almost 40 years at the steel mill. Now he's looking for a new job.
"I'm not feeling sorry for me, but I feel sorry for a lot of my coworkers who are working check-to-check," Lewis said.
Bayou Steel is one piece of a larger puzzle of job loss in Louisiana.
"We're the only southern state that's losing jobs,” said Professor Walter “Dub” Lane, chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of New Orleans.
In the Houma-Thibodaux area, that region has lost more than 2,500 jobs since last year. Professor Lane says many of the job losses in the state are tied to the drop in oil prices over the past several years.
"I've been told if oil prices don't go up into the $70/barrel area you're not going to see the rig count raised in the Gulf. We're still tied to the oil economy," Lane said.
Unless the candidates for Louisiana Governor can affect oil prices, Professor Lane says they can’t deliver on providing quick improvements to the state's economy.
"There's really not a whole lot that a governor can do in the short term to change the economy. The factors driving the economy are just much bigger than what they have," Lane said.
He says job creation is a long-term game that takes planning. He says if the next governor wants to create more opportunity, he'll have to work with the legislature to improve public and higher education, change the tax structure and help create a new landscape for insurance rates. Those are big initiatives that don't fit conveniently in political ads.
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