See which sectors are driving job creation in Louisiana

The health care sector has contributed the most new jobs to Louisiana’s economy over the past five years, according to the latest economic intelligence dashboard from the Committee of 100 for Economic Development.

Three sectors in particular—health services and private education, professional and business services and manufacturing—led Louisiana in job creation, contributing nearly 20,000 new jobs from May 2019 to May 2024. Of those 20,000 jobs, the health care sector accounted for the vast majority with 14,700.

The professional and business services sector has added 2,800 jobs over the past five years, and the manufacturing sector has added 1,900. Manufacturing employment is currently at its highest level since early 2016.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the three sectors that lost the most jobs from May 2019 to May 2024 were leisure and hospitality, government, and transportation and utilities.

The leisure and hospitality sector lost the most jobs over the past five years, shedding 19,000. Sixty-two percent of those lost jobs, which can largely be traced back to the COVID-19 pandemic, were in the New Orleans metro. The government sector lost 10,600 jobs over the past five years, and the transportation and utilities sector lost 7,400.

Other notable findings in C100’s new dashboard:

• Six of Louisiana’s nine metros gained jobs year over year in May and the state’s total nonfarm employment rose by 0.3%. Among Southern states, Louisiana outpaced only Tennessee in job growth.
• New job postings in Louisiana dropped year over year in June, reflecting national trends of a cooling labor market.
• If Louisiana were to reach the national average for labor force participation, the state would gain 139,000 jobs.

“Taken as a whole, this [dashboard] shows Louisiana is adding jobs statewide and in most of its metropolitan areas, but doing so slower than other Southern states in the U.S. and during a period of declining number of new job postings,” a statement from C100 reads.

The Committee of 100 for Economic Development is an economic development organization with a stated goal of improving Louisiana’s competitiveness by advocating for public policy changes and bringing together the state’s leaders in academia and business.