Job growth signals strong economy in NOLA

Data released Friday by the Louisiana Workforce Commission confirmed anecdotal evidence that the New Orleans area economy is growing. The seven parish metro area added 8,800 jobs since February 2012. The unemployment rate also dropped from 7.4% in January to 7.0%. The state as a whole added 41,000 jobs in the last twelve months.

Local unemployment lower than nation

Unemployment has drifted downward locally and statewide. While there is no job boom, things are better here then elsewhere. Article and charts here.

Who is the one city employee with an unsatisfactory 2010 performance evaluation?

Jarvis Deberry has an interesting op ed in the July 3rd Times Picayune. It seems that despite there being more than a few marginal employees working for the City of New Orleans, only 31 of the 4,315 city employees evaluated in 2010 were found to "need improvement." I'm not kidding, 31! And just one received an "unsatisfactory."

I'm not a big fan of employee performance evaluations. I think most employers do a lousy job of the evaluation process. I also think its implausible to believe that a supervisor is going to give a frank evaluation of an employee he/she does not yet want to fire. As long as a supervisor's department or job is dependent on the performance of subordinates, there is an inherent conflict in the evaluation process that plays against fair evaluations. And no, I don't mean unfavorably towards the employee. Only after a supervisor has made a decision to "get rid" of a subordinate can you expect a full accounting of job deficiencies, and sometimes not even then.

Things go bump day or night

Mayor Mitch Landrieu wants to eliminate bumping rights for laid off workers. Under current rules and employee laid off in one department can "bump" an employee with less seniority in a similar position in another post in city government. Private sector employers have long rejected straight seniority as a basis for layoff decisions. Moreover, outside of the context of collective bargaining, bumping rights are rejected as counter-productinve and disruptive.

Job losses and economic disaster

AFL-CIO blog correctly characterizes the Avondale layoffs, which are underway, as a huge economic disaster for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. As our marshes erode so do manufacturing jobs. While it may be hyperbole to compare the effects of the Avondale closure to the BP oil spill, long term it may not be.

Avondale closing

Labor joins effort to save Avondale jobs.

Katrina +5

A recent Brookings Institute report has some pretty positive things to say about New Orleans.

• "Since 2005, New Orleanians have arguably undertaken more major reforms simultaneously than any other modern American city,''
• "The metro area had recovered more than 90 percent of its population and 85 percent of its jobs as of June,"
• For the first time since the mid-1980s, average wages here caught up to the national average.

More on the report and other New Orleans information from Brookings here.

Whodathought

New Orleans has the lowest jobless rate (6.5%) of any major metropolitan area in the country, according to an otherwise bleak Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released yesterday. The unemployment rate was higher than it was in February 2009 in 347
of the 372 metropolitan areas, and lower in only 21 areas.

Saks settles ADA claim

Retailer Saks has agreed to settle, for $170,000, an ADA claim filed by the EEOC,  arising in the New Orleans store. Details here.

Union statistical data

A treasure trove of statistical data about union density on a national and metropolitan area basis can be found at http://www.unionstats.com/. For example, in 2008, 4.4% of workers in the New Orleans Metropolitan area were members of a union, and 6.3% were covered by a collective bargaining agreement. In the private sector alone the figures are 2.1% members and 2.8% are covered. Public sector membership was 19.6% and covered by CBA stood at 29.6%.

Unemployment

The Bureau of Labor statistics reports unemployment was higher in all 372 metropolitan areas in August of 2009 as compared with August 2008. Two of the highest rates were reporteded in and around Detroit. Two of the lowest were reported in and around the District of Columbia. New Orleans unemployment stood at 7.4% last month as compared with 5.0% a year ago. Jackson, MS reported a 7.5 rate, up from 6.1% a year ago. And YIKES! 24 of the 27 metropolitan areas in California reported double digit rates of unemployment, including an eye-popping 28.7% in El Centro.