Louisiana’s unemployment rate increases slightly to 6.9 percent in May from prior month

Louisiana’s jobless rate rises to 6.9 pct in May

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s unemployment rate rose to 6.9 percent in May as the state added 4,600 jobs in the private sector, the Louisiana Workforce Commission reported Friday.

But state officials said the tally — composed from business surveys taken during the second week of the month — did not cover fishermen and other self-employed occupations hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“We are closely monitoring developments with the oil spill and the moratorium on deepwater drilling,” said Curt Eysink, the agency’s executive director. “This disaster is likely to have far-reaching impacts on employment for many people and industries in our state.”

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for April was 6.7 percent. In May 2009, the rate was 6.8 percent.

Nonfarm payrolls grew by 11,100 jobs from April to May. That included 6,500 additional government workers, mostly temporary positions with the Census Bureau, the Workforce Commission said.

While employment increased last month, the number of unemployed rose by 3,600 while the civilian labor force increased by 5,500. That’s a typical post-recession indication that once-discouraged workers have again started looking for employment.

The U.S. unemployment rate in May was 9.7 percent, down from 9.9 percent.