It’s Labor Day, so what is the state of labor in Louisiana? Let’s start with the bad news. Economist Loren Scott says the Lafayette metro and the Houma-Thibodaux area are struggling because of a decline in offshore oil and gas activity.
“When we had that price of oil drop in early 2015 that number dropped from 60 down to the 20s, the latest rig count in the Gulf of Mexico is 10 active rigs,” Scott said.
Now here’s the good news. Scott says hiring will pick up in the Monroe area as workers are needed to build Meta’s ten-billion dollar A-I data center in Richland Parish.
“There’s a hotel there that is a five-story hotel, just got renovated, it is totally booked for the next five years, it’s just crazy there right now, crazy good,” Scott said.
Scott also expects job growth in Lake Charles, Baton Rouge and parts of the New Orleans area, because the price of natural gas is cheap.
CF Industries is making ammonia fertilizer out of $3/MMBtu, there is no way that European countries can compete with us,” Scott said.
