Katrina cut employment in La., Miss. by 310,700 (LA unempl @ 11.5%)

[UpInArms]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Employment in Louisiana fell by 251,000 or 13% in September as Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas, the Labor Department said Friday. Employment in Mississippi fell by 59,700 or 5.3%. The unemployment rate in Louisiana rose to 11.5% from 5.8%, the largest monthly increase ever recorded. The jobless rate in Mississippi rose to 9.6% from 6.8% in August. The New Orleans metro area lost 232,000 jobs year-over-year or 38%, while Gulfport, Miss., lost 30,500 year-over-year or 26.7%.

...short blurb...

[Lasher]

1. OK, so it's Katrina's fault now?

And Clinton's?

[Zynx]

2. I've never seen numbers in my lifetime quite like that.

[uppityperson]

3. link?

[UpInArms]

4. Oops! Here's the link

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BB8CA5D0C%2DCC94%2D4D58%2D91FB%2D8D05A3EAADA2%7D&siteid=mktw

and they have added details to the report

excerpt:

In New Orleans, nonfarm payrolls fell by 232,000 or 38% year-over-year from 610,400 in September 2004 to 378,400. Nonfarm payrolls dropped by 26.7% in Gulfport, Miss., and by 11.1% in Pascagoula, Miss.

The unemployment rate in Louisiana rose to 11.5% in September from 5.8% in August. It's the largest monthly increase since the government began tracking the data in the 1970s.

The jobless rate in Mississippi rose to 9.6% from 6.8%.

<snip>

The numbers could understate the actual loss of jobs: Many large corporations kept employees on the payrolls temporarily even though they did not work. These workers were counted as employed in September.

...more...

[pitohui]

5. yes many businesses did step up to the plate

altho the casinos from bay st. louis to biloxi were destroyed, most if not all of the casinos have stepped up to offer their employees 90 days pay/benefits

however some entities can't afford to do this, the famous example being city of new orleans has lost its entire tax base & had to lay off half its employees, including such horrible lay-offs as 90 percent of all library employees

entire cities & towns have seen their businesses & housing for their workers wiped out at the same time, i'm not surprised the unemployment rate is so high

our insurer told us that half the workers in our neighborhood lost their jobs as a result of katrina

on the plus side, there are a lot more & better paying opportunities in construction, restaurant, retail, etc. if you DO have a place to live but a lot of white collar jobs are going to be gone for a long time, you have all of the orleans schoolteachers out of work, university profs out of work, suno university prob. going to go out of business, maybe xavier too i heard on the rumor mill last night (i hope this rumor is false) but there is much job loss among the educated class that we can least afford to lose