Louisiana Economic Briefs: October 31, 2005

New Orleans CityBusiness, Oct 31, 2005 by CityBusiness Staff Report

Hurricane Katrina caused the state unemployment rate to double from August to September, the Louisiana Department of Labor announced. The preliminary September unemployment rate for Louisiana soared to 11.5 percent after Hurricane Katrina, marking the highest unemployment rate in the state since January 1987.

The August unemployment rate was 5.8 percent while the September 2004 rate was 5.7 percent.The unemployment rate for the New Orleans metropolitan statistical area nearly tripled in September to 14.8 percent, up from 5.8 percent in August. Louisiana lost 251,000 nonfarm employees over the month because of the hurricane. September's nonfarm employment level of 1,684,600 was the lowest since November 1993. Key points of the September report include: * The state's civilian labor force in September was 1,980,140 down from 2,121,577 in August. * The total number of employed in September decreased to 1,753,044 from 1,999,072 in August.* Louisiana's number of unemployed for September was 227,096 - up from 122,505 for the previous month. * The state unemployment rate increased from 5.8 percent to 11.5 percent in September and was above the September 2004 rate of 5.7 percent. White House rescinds Baker-Davis repealThe White House rescinded its waiver of the Davis-Bacon Act effective Nov. 8. The 1931 law ensures that workers employed under federal contracts receive the standard prevailing wage - or local average wage - for their trade. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans, lobbied hard for its repeal.Landrieu said President Bush had unwisely suspended the compensation rules last month following Hurricane Katrina. Landrieu ripped the Bush administration for allowing no- bid contractors to line their pockets by employing out-of-state and often undocumented workers in place of skilled and ready Louisianians.Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement began investigating reports of contractors using undocumented workers for hurricane recovery projects. ICE agents identified at least 10 undocumented workers employed by a Halliburton subcontractor at the Belle Chase Naval Air Station.A group of skilled Louisiana electricians testified at a hearing called earlier in the week by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that they had been dismissed from the Belle Chasse work site after only two weeks of a 20-month commitment. The electricians testified they had been asked to train unskilled, lesser-paid and non-English-speaking workers to take their place. White-collar work force still absent from N.O.Nearly two months after Hurricane Katrina, the city's white-collar work force is much reduced. New Orleans office space experts estimate as few as 25 percent of the city's downtown office workers have returned, even though Central Business District businesses are returning daily. As of last week, as much as 80 percent of the city's 16 top-tier high- rise office buildings were expected to reopen, said Michael Siegel, executive vice president of New Orleans-based Corporate Realty Inc.The reasons for the absence are varied, Siegel and other experts said. Many workers have no place to live in the metro area since Katrina destroyed their homes and there are no vacancies at apartments and hotels. Also, workers already have enrolled their children in schools where they evacuated, Siegel said.Colleen Berthelot, an associate broker for Corporate Realty Inc., said some office buildings have been shut down due to damaged mechanical systems.Siegel expects the return of white-collar workers to the city to be very gradual. More white-collar workers are expected to return to New Orleans after Christmas as more schools reopen or around summer when school is out, Berthelot said.Now open for business:* Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz, 201 St. Charles Ave., Suite 3600, New Orleans* Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver LLC, 909 Poydras St., Suite 1800, New Orleans* Clearwater Pools, Spas & Billiards, 4001 Highway 190, Covington; 2004 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at both locations. * K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, 416 Chartres St., Tuesday through Saturday, 4 p.m. until* KPMG LLP, 909 Poydras St., New Orleans * Mothers Restaurant, 401 Poydras St., New Orleans, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday* Pan-American Life Center, 601 Poydras St., New Orleans* Poydras Tower, 909 Poydras St., New Orleans* Poydras Center, 650 Poydras St., New Orleans* Poydras Center Executive Suites, 650 Poydras St., New Orleans* St. Tammany Parish Community Action Agency, 1300 N. Florida, Covington; 61134 N. Military Road, Slidell * Texaco Center, 400 Poydras St.* Tinder Box, Lakeside Shopping Center, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday* URS Corp., 3500 N Causeway Blvd, Suite 900, Metairie* Villere's Florist, 1107 Veterans Blvd., Metairie; 1027 Village Walk, Covington * Esplanade Mall, Kenner, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily* The Finish Line, New Orleans Fair Grounds off- track betting, Covington, Elmwood, Houma, LaPlace and Thibodaux locations* Louisiana State Museum's Cabildo, Jackson Square, New Orleans* Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 6 to 8.p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays* Rib Room and The Touche Bar, in the Omni Royal Orleans hotel, lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; dinner 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday * Swizzle Stick Bar at Loews New Orleans HotelStennis shuttle test is first since KatrinaFor the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, NASA's Stennis Space Center has begun testing space shuttle main engines. Engineers successfully test-fired an engine Tuesday for 520 seconds - the length of time a shuttle takes to reach orbit. Stennis Center Director Bill Parsons, the senior NASA official for Katrina recovery and relief, is working with state and federal agencies at the center and at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to restore and rebuild the region. Today's engine test is an indication that Stennis Space Center and the region are recovering from the storm, NASA officials said. My hat's off to the members of our NASA and contractor teams who rode out the storm, took care of the facilities, took care of each other and helped thousands of people who were in dire need after the storm, Parsons said. They are the reason we can get back to doing our NASA mission.Oil, gas production nears 33 percentOil and gas production companies are slowly making a dent in the job of recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to the federal Minerals Management Service.About 68 percent, or 1 million barrels per day, of the normal 1.5 million barrels of daily Gulf oil production remains shut in because of the storms. On Oct. 19, 64.9 percent of production was shut in. Last Wednesday's shut-in natural gas production was 56 percent or 5.6 billion cubic feet per day. Normally, 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas is produced in the Gulf each day. Last Wednesday, 52 percent of natural gas production was shut in.About 228 of the 819 manned drilling platforms and 17 of the 134 drilling rigs in the Gulf remain evacuated because of storm damage.