Thursday, September 03, 2015

Jobs in New Orleans 10 years after Katrina


                         Comments due by Sept.11, 2015
New Orleans has spent the past decade clawing its way back to normality after Hurricane Katrina decimated much of the city, causing residents and businesses to flee. But as of late, it’s struggling to hold onto jobs.
It was the only major metropolitan area to have lost jobs in July compared with a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday. In the past year, 50 out of the 51 metropolitan areas with populations of one million or more saw a rise in employment, according to the Labor Department. But payrolls shrank by 3,800 in the New Orleans-Metairie area in July, with losses concentrated in construction and the manufacturing sector that includes oil refining.
The New Orleans-Metairie area steadily added jobs year over year from fall 2010 through February this year. Since March, the area has lost an average of 2,275 jobs each month compared with the prior year.
Meanwhile, with the overall national economic recovery, quality is uneven among the thousands of jobs that have come back since the hurricane. A recent in-depth analysis showed that many of the jobs created in New Orleans since the devastating hurricane are low-wage jobs in the hospitality industry, mainly in the city’s restaurants, for which it is renowned.
The area’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.4% in July from 6.7% in June, but is still well above the nonseasonally adjusted national average of 5.6% in July. The seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate was 5.3% in July.
In the past three years, its monthly unemployment readings have swung between 7.9% and as little as 5%. So far in 2015, the unemployment rate has hovered between 6% and 6.9%.
Across the country, winners over the past year included the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area, which added 164,400 nonfarm jobs between July 2014 and July 2015. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, in California, saw 157,500 jobs spring up in the past year. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, continued to add jobs to the tune of 121,700, even as the energy industry took a hit from falling gas prices.
Overall, 322 out of 387 metropolitan areas added jobs in the past year. Eleven were unchanged, and 54 lost jobs. (WSJ)

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

This quote caught my attention: "In the past year, 50 out of the 51 metropolitan areas with populations of one million or more saw a rise in employment, according to the Labor Department. But payrolls shrank by 3,800 in the New Orleans-Metairie area in July, with losses concentrated in construction and the manufacturing sector that includes oil refining." It stuck out to me mainly because of, A) the fact the New Orleans was the only metropolitan area to not see that raise in employment, and B) the fact that oil managed to find it's way into this article. I feel like somehow, whether it be an environmental or an economic article, oil manages to be involved somehow. It also tends to be seen in a bad light, which is unsurprising, judging by the fact that the oil industry does have some villainous tendencies.
-Elizabeth Piper Phillips

Heather Kiczek said...

The article discusses how jobs in New Orleans are still affected 10 years after Hurricane Katrina. I think there are many reasons why the jobs have decreased specifically in this town. I think the biggest reason is that after the devastation and destruction of the city, many businesses and big time corporations relocated to areas that were built up and gave them more business. Also, due to the destruction of many homes and communities, people relocated and started over. This is possibly due to the uncertainty of whether or not the city would ever build back up enough in time for people to work and function in society. I personally don't believe that New Orleans will ever be the same, based on these facts.

Alexandar Dimcevski said...

New Orleans was heavily reliant on their expensive flood system that was built in order for the city to continue its economic growth. But as the city expanded it started sinking below sea level. At the same time wetlands surrounding New Orleans started shrinking which by scientist are seen as a natural barrier against storms. All these factors, expensive growth, sinking city, and environmental changes for the worse are factors that today drives the economy in New Orleans. Business are aware of these factors and don't want to risk their capital when their is cheaper with lower risk opportunities out there. Although one day the technology might be there.

Alex Dimcevski

Anonymous said...

I think it is safe to say that New Orleans has had a very difficult history since Hurricane Katrina. In the past ten years the amount of jobs that have been lost in New Orleans are very high. Although they have lost many jobs, New Orlean's unemployment rate numbers in the year of 2015 are between six percent and six point nine percent. New Orleans job losses are mainly in "construction and the manufacturing sector that includes oil refining." Oil is detrimental to having a city due to it's many purposes including heat, power, etc. I believe that New Orleans is economically steadying themselves in this rough, non-forgiving economy.

-Liam Monarchio

Anonymous said...

I can see the issues that New Orleans has because of the constructing and manufacturing sectors. Since that concentration of jobs has declined, this effects everyone else in the area. How are businesses and homes going to heat or power their places? Where are they going to get important services now? They would have to receive the services from outside sources which are much more expensive. Since this happens, now income for workers in the businesses will decrease or even cut.This will also happen to peoples homes, it will be more expensive for them to live. Without those set of jobs, it will and has effected everyone. New Orleans is a great example that not all area economies reform the same way, so a change of pace is needed.

-Alexander Shields

Anonymous said...

New Orleans has spent the past couple of years trying to get back to normal after the Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city causing people and businesses to flee. It is also becoming very difficult to hold jobs. The population of the city decreased as the years passed by. Before the hurricane New Orleans had a population of 12,000 people and now fewer than 3,000 people live there. That is because most of the homes were washed away by the storm. I believe that the reason why jobs have decreased specifically in this city is because since most businesses have closed down there are no jobs to provide to the people. People then begin to move to other cities or states hoping to find employment elsewhere. In my opinion some major changes have to be made to the city so it can return to it’s once natural state.


- Chelsy Ventura

Anonymous said...

After hurricane Katrina New Orleans was left devastated, with many lives lost and families destroyed. So did there economy suffer from which we still can see 10 years later. They still are struggling with there employment rates which is higher then the nations average. Mostly suffering in the manufacturing and construction side, as where I can see why it would be on the decline. Most businesses have left the area to other areas where such an catastrophic event would be less likely to occur. As per the construction side I can also see why they wouldn't want to build in an area such event can happen again. Many have since moved from the area which in terms means less business. I don't believe New Orleans will be back to where it was before Hurricane Katrina but in time I do believe they can reform there economy and make the best of it.


Manuel Llivisaca

Anonymous said...

It is clearly stated in the article that after New Orleans was hit my Hurricane Katrina their economic standing dropped significantly. Although after 10 years they are still not recovering very well, we do a see a slight increases in statistics. New Orleans nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 6.7% to 6.4%. Although it has only dropped by .3% it is a step in the right direction for New Orleans to improve its economic standing. However, it just isn't enough. If we compare the adjusted unemployment rate of New Orleans to the national rate, the national rate is 5.3%. New Orleans is currently 1.1% above the national average. The reason the unemployment rate is higher than the national average is because, when New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, many businesses and homes that suffered severe damage had to relocate and start over. Because local businesses have to start from scratch it is hard for them to provide jobs for others. Because no jobs are available, people who need money for a new home can't obtain it because they are unemployed. All in all I believe that it is going to take much longer than 10 years for New Orleans to recover. Even if the area recovers New Orleans will never be how it used to be.
-Surina Sandhu

Unknown said...

When any city is hit with a disaster, it takes several years to recover from it. The same happened with New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy. Many lost jobs, houses, and businesses, and the damage is just about cleaned up after almost 3 years. Katrina however, was much worse. It's very unfortunate when this type of scenario happens, because no one did anything to deserve this. It isn't like a stock market crash where investors panic-sell their stocks causing the market to crash. Katrina was completely inevitable and as a result New Orleans is still dealing with the economic repercussions after ten years. It caught my attention that the majority of the U.S. metropolitan cities have thrived recently. If New Orleans hadn't been decimated by a hurricane ten years ago, they could've been flourishing economically like New York or Los Angeles.

Anonymous said...

Many issues occurred after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Lives were lost, families destroyed, houses ruined and jobs taken away from individuals due to natural disaster. Hurricane Katrina, one of the biggest natural disasters in the united states, left the people of New Orleans with nothing. This caused the unemployment rate to dramatically increase. With such a big natural disaster comes years of repairing. New Orleans has a much different variable that plays into the statistics of the unemployment than others. In order for the rates to become average and alike with other metropolitan cities, years and years of work and effort as a whole is necessary. To back that up is the information and statistics in this passage that shows the rates heading into a positive direction. It may be slow but eventually it will catch up with the rest of the metropolitan cities.
-Nikolas Fountis

Anonymous said...

Hurricane Katrina was an awful disaster that destroyed many houses, businesses, and other buildings. Besides physical things, Katrina ruined the economy in New Orleans. I beleive that New Orleans unemployment is starting to drop again because, at first, there was a rush of businesses and people helping the cleaning and rebuilding. Now building is slowing down becasue there is no new businesses moving in. If restaurants rushed into all the newly built buildings, as fast as the construction businesses rushed in after the disaster, than employment would keep rising because with more attractions more people would come.

-Matthew Golden

Anonymous said...

Natural disasters occur all the the time, but Hurricane Katrina was a complete catastrophe. Katrina destroyed thousands of houses, businesses, parks, etc. All of these things cost money, money that these people don't have because of a weak economy due to this disaster. Over the past couple years the economy has begun to re-stabilize. Unemployment rates have dropped because of reconstruction jobs and other government programs. As the economy continues to level out on the business cycle, more and more jobs will be available to the people of New Orleans. However, since March 2010 an average of around 2200 jobs had been lost each month. Unemployment will be an everlasting problem that can probably only be solved my government or big business.
-Nick Arciszewski

Anonymous said...

10 years after Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans and its economy are still suffering immensely. It destroyed businesses, houses, schools, etc. After the hurricane hit, the city needed to re-build thus creating more jobs. Most of these jobs were in construction so when everything is finished being built the unemployment rate plummeted. Also after it hit people and businesses relocated making it more difficult in the long run for people to keep a steady job in the city.
-Stefanie Svoboda

Anonymous said...

10 years later, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina still greatly affects New Orleans and its economy. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, many homes, businesses, schools, and other establishments were destroyed. The economy of New Orleans was ruined and is still facing economic struggles 10 years later. Many construction jobs were created to assist in helping rebuild the city. However, once the city had been rebuilt, the unemployment rate increased drastically. The city of New Orleans has a long road ahead of them before they ever return to the same city it was before Hurricane Katrina hit. I personally believe that with the devastating repercussions of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans will never return to how it was before.
-Jane Kasparian

Anthony Zullo said...

New Orleans and hurricane Katrina still has lasting effects on the people a decade later. Hurricane Katrina blew houses away and destroyed many businesses . Since then the economy and the job market has never been the same there. After learning in class about opportunity cost I felt like I could compare that to the article. Unemployment of the people are down in New Orleans I believe because many people don't have homes and a core base to grow on there. So they go from having say for example a $100,000 house and a $50,000 annual job to having there house blown away and a job that is no longer stably intact. There opportunity cost just went from a huge positive to a complete depression. The only positive the hurricane had was it increased the jobs in construction as everything had to be rebuilt. Unemployment has slowly gotten better but its a slow and steady process that won't ever fully be resolved.

Jeff Towle said...

Its crazy how even after 10 years of healing the economy of the city of New Orleans is still suffering from hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately the city hasn't followed suit, unlike the other 50 metropolitan who have steadily increased jobs. New Orleans has lost an average of 2,275 jobs per month over the last year. This is causing people not stay which is also hurting the economy. The unstable condition of the city doesn't give business owners much stability, so they have taken their businesses and job opportunities else where. Before the devastation the city was fully functional providing jobs for many but now it has lost a lot of these opportunities. Even with more jobs becoming available for the rebuilding process, it is still an up hill battle for the city to regain its economic success.

Unknown said...

It's a shame hurricane Katrina could cause this much damage, especially in the long run. Hurricane Katrina even ten years after still affects the economy in a negative way. Job loss due to the hurricane is inevitable but was a huge surprise to me that it could still cause the losses of jobs in this current day. Due to popular belief no one would want to go back there and start a business because of what happened in 2005. I don't know what we could do to resolve this issue of job loss. I wouldn't suppose anyone would know what to do either. From outside sources I read that the government has been preparing for a large scale disaster like this since 2002 but unfortunatley couldn't help.

Unknown said...

I was not surprised that after a natural disaster the economic standings of the area in which was affected would drop. However, i was surprised with how long it would take for a place to recover from the incident. A natural disaster completely destroy small businesses, agriculture, and many other factors that can therefore cause a decrease in the unemployment rate.

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans about 10 years ago and one would believe that during the time the employment rate would increase. Yet, since march of this year there has been a loss of on average 2,275 jobs each month compared to the previous years. Even though there has been jobs created in new orleans the ones that have been created are low- wage jobs in he hospitality industry. This means that the unemployment rate has been increasing because the people whom are taking the jobs are not being employed to their full employment.

In conclusion I feel like it will take New Orleans and any other place that has been affected by a natural disaster like this a very long time to fully recover. I believe that it might not even be in my life time for New Orleans to be back where it once was in 2005.

-susan aracena

Unknown said...

Me having family who went through Katrina i know everything that happened and how they were effected. Its been 10 years since the hurricane and most of my family still cant find any jobs down there. They are now trying to move out.Before the disaster happened jobs were easy to find but now there hard to come by. Most of the businesses do not have stability. Its taking a long to rebuild and who knows when they will be stable


-Marvin Jean-Baptiste

Unknown said...

It's not a surprise that the economy of New Orleans was hit badly after Katrina but what is surprising is that even after ten years it keeps on going worse than the year before. Coming from a coastal city (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) I can relate to this situation cause we had many natural disasters that affected us and the city's economy badly. It wasn't a long time ago like Katrina but we still managed to bounce back when the government preformed a huge makeover to the city's council، also they started a new committee just to study this matter. However, after Katrina and the huge decrease in job numbers every year made a lot of people and businesses to move to other states. Which is causing the problem to get bigger and bigger, its going to require a major effort to help New Orleans climb out of this huge hole.

-Hamed Alharbi

Anthony Abbondanza said...

Hurricane Katrina was disastrous to the economy of New Orleans. Mass destruction of buildings, houses, schools, etc. caused a high demand for construction jobs after the storm hit and the damage was assessed. In the short term this boosted employment rates, however, most of these jobs were only in construction. Once the work was finished for the most part unemployment sky rocketed due to the high concentration of construction workers and low volume of construction jobs. Also, after the storm hit many businesses were permanently closed or relocated away from the city. This caused yet another economic decline for New Orleans due to more jobs being removed from the city as well as cash flow for the economy. In conclusion, Hurricane Katrina caused irreversible damage to the city of New Orleans that is still being worked on to date and it will take great measures to restore the economy to the thriving animal it once was.
-Anthony Abbondanza