All of Louisiana’s metro areas added construction jobs over the past year!

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La. gains construction jobs

Lake Charles, BR lead state due to plant expansions

TIMOTHY BOONE| TBOONE@THEADVOCATE.COM

All of Louisiana’s metro areas surveyed in July by the Associated General Contractors of America added construction jobs over the past year, with Lake Charles and Baton Rouge leading the way.

Lake Charles had a 27 percent gain in construction employment, the best among the 339 metro areas surveyed by the AGC during a 12-month period that ended in July. Lake Charles went from 10,600 construction workers in July 2013 to 13,500 in July.

Baton Rouge added 7,900 construction jobs, an 18 percent gain that was good enough to rank the city as the seventh-fastest growing market in the U.S. for new construction jobs.

Construction gains in Lake Charles and Baton Rouge have been driven by petrochemical plant expansions. An estimated $84 billion in new construction projects are in the pipeline for the state, with most of the activity being concentrated in Lake Charles and along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.

Among the other markets in the survey, Houma-Thibodaux went from 5,400 workers in July 2013 to 5,900, a gain of 9 percent. Lafayette added 300 jobs, or 4 percent, to go from 7,000 last year to 7,300. Shreveport-Bossier City had a 200-job gain, or 2 percent, to end last month with 8,300 construction workers. New Orleans added 400 construction jobs to end July with 31,900 workers, or a 1 percent gain.

Statewide, Louisiana saw construction employment grow by 7 percent, or 9,000 jobs, to finish July with 139,900. That tied with Minnesota and Pennsylvania for sixth place in the states with the biggest construction job gains.

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