1012 Corridor

Louisiana had nearly 18,000 fewer open jobs in the second quarter of 2008 than it did during the same period last year, according to a survey released last week by the state Workforce Commission. That’s a dip of one percentage point, giving Louisiana a new vacancy rate of 4.1% (four available jobs for every 100 in the state).

The 2008 Job Vacancy Survey identifies the number and types of jobs available in specific industries and regions of the state. As for 10/12, decreases were seen up and down the interstate system, including the metro areas of Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. On the flipside, they still managed to offer up jobs at a rate – a collective 4% - that’s competitive with other corridor regions of the state.

The Lake Charles region had the lowest vacancy rate in the state with 2.8%, the northwest corner of the state recorded a 3.8% rate and the northeast corner notched 3.6%. The bayou parishes, anchored by Houma, had the highest vacancy rate in the state, though, with 6.2%. While oil and gas would normally be the likely suspect, the survey attributed the coastal increase to vacancies in the educational and health services industry sector.

Here’s a quick overview of how the 10/12 regions fared in the second quarter survey:

Lafayette Region

::4.2% job vacancy rate, down from 5.7%

::11,437 open jobs

::The largest number of job vacancies was found in the production industry (2,250)

::$11 median hourly wage

Baton Rouge Region

::3.7% job vacancy rate, down from 4.9%

::15,465 open jobs

::The largest number of job vacancies was found in office and administrative support (2,500)

::$10 median hourly wage

New Orleans Region

::4.3% job vacancy rate, down from 6.6%

::22,252 open jobs

::The largest number of job vacancies was found in the production industry (3,250)

::$11.25 median hourly wage