A yearly employment and wages report shows that Louisiana, and more importantly, Bossier Parish continue to defy national economic trends.

The 2008 Annual Average Employment and Total Wages Report released by the Louisiana Workforce Commission shows that Bossier Parish had increases of average employees and wages. The number of average employees increased to 43,556 from 42,100 over 2007 while wages increased over $121 million to total $1,393,237,471.

"Any growth is good news. Northwest Louisiana is continuing to help carry the state and its prosperity. We definitely have a strong hold as one of the leaders for the state of Louisiana," said Lisa Johnson, executive director of the Bossier Chamber of Commerce.

The information comes from quarterly tax reports submitted by all employers subject to the Louisiana Employment Security Law and from supplemental reports giving parish data submitted by many multi-parish employers.

This report is the only information that gives data at parish level and acts as a census of employment levels.

"I think it shows Louisiana has learned a hard lesson and we are a more diversified economy and have a proactive economic development agency and more active than ever before in helping our employers to hire local people," said Patty Granier, labor market specialist with the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

In 2008, the wholesale trade sector grew by 570 employees and the administrative and waste services sector grew by 421 when compared to last year. Ten other sectors also had gains in employment.

Meanwhile, the arts/entertainment/recreation sector decreased by 305. Only five other areas — manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, finance and insurance, real estate/rental/leasing and health care and social assistance — experienced a decrease in employment.

The increase in retail trade in average of employers and total wages for Bossier Parish is attributed to continual growth of the sector.

"The Louisiana Boardwalk continues to be a number one attraction and strong retailer for our area, and Pierre Bossier Mall continues to stay in the high upper 90s for leasing. Stirling Properties has continued to bring in new retailers and Villaggio is the next major retailer that has just opened," said Johnson.

She also pointed out the slight increase in professional and technical services is evidence of the different companies moving into the area due to the Haynesville Shale, U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale Air Force Base and the Cyber Innovation Center.

These industries also impacted the growth of the administrative and waste services by increasing the size of the parish's population and requiring more services.

"As the businesses move in, you're going to see a growth in your residential area and in the last half of the year we have an increase in our residents in our subdivisions within the parish," said Johnson.

Total wages for the mining sector, which includes the oil and gasindustry, increased by $20.8 million. Administrative and waste services increased by $13.6 million and retail trade increased by $8.7 million.

"The increase in activity in mining sector has provided good economic wages, with an average of near $1,200 per week. This is really good information for Bossier Parish because it lets people in that industry go spend money in the stores and with service providers in the region," said Granier.

According to the report, Louisiana average employment in 2008 totaled 1,890,087. This indicated an increase of 1.1 percent compared to 1,868,767 in 2007. Employment increased in 41 of the 64 parishes in 2008.

The report also shows that total wages for 2008 showed a gain of 6.8 percent from 2007 and the 2008 average weekly wage for employment continued to rise in 2008 with an average increase of $41 over 2007.

To download the entire report, visit www.laworks.net.

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