La. First Quarter 2011 Job Outlook Best In Nation
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana Economic Development announced Manpower Inc.'s Employment Outlook Survey indicates Louisiana employers expect to hire at an "active pace" during the first quarter of 2011. In fact, Manpower stated Louisiana's statewide employment outlook is the nation's best for the first quarter of 2011, and the Baton Rouge metro area's employment outlook is the best in the country for a metropolitan statistical area, or MSA.
Specifically, about 21 percent of Louisiana employers expect to hire more employees, compared to the U.S. average of 14 percent. In addition, seven percent expect to reduce their payrolls -- significantly less than the U.S. average of 10 percent. Accordingly, Louisiana's Net Employment Outlook, as estimated by the Manpower survey, is +14 percent, which is significantly better than the national outlook of +4 percent.
"Since the beginning of the national recession, Louisiana's economy has outperformed the South and U.S. by any reasonable measure," said LED Secretary Stephen Moret. "Our state's job performance during the recession was far better than the South and U.S., and Louisiana has been growing jobs at a faster rate than the South and U.S. since the official end of the national recession in June 2009. Not surprisingly, the latest population figures released yesterday by the U.S. Census indicate that Louisiana's population grew faster than that of the U.S. in each of the last three years. Since January 2008, we have announced projects that are creating more than 38,000 direct and indirect jobs -- jobs that are resulting in more employment opportunities for Louisiana citizens."
From January 2010 to March 2010, the Employment Outlook Survey indicates employers in the Baton Rouge area expect to hire at an "active pace," with 22 percent of the companies expected to hire more employees and four percent expect to reduce payroll. This yields a Net Employment Outlook of +18 percent.
The Employment Outlook Survey indicates employers in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area expect to hire at a "respectable pace," with 20 percent of the companies expected to hire more employees and 10 percent expect to reduce payroll. This yields a Net Employment Outlook of +10 percent.
The Employment Outlook Survey reached out to more than 18,000 employers in the U.S. All participants were asked, "How do you anticipate total employment at your location to change in the three months to the end of March 2011 as compared to the current quarter?" The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly to measure employers' intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforces during the next quarter. The survey has been conducted since 1962.
The Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity.
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