I had the opportunity to hear my favorite Louisiana economist, Dr. Loren Scott, at this year's Top 100 Luncheon at the Baton Rouge Business Report’s annual Biz Expo. Hoping for the best, but, expecting the worse, I was braced for the “27th Louisiana Economic Outlook” which is produced by Dr. Scott and a team of LSU economists. With the government’s $700 billion bailout plan, and the nation in its worse economic crisis since the Great Depression, the Report had to be revised from its original printing in August 2008.

Here are some highlights from the report:

• While the rest of the country will suffer with three quarters of negative GDP growth, Louisiana will “eek by” with job growth of one-tenth of 1% in 2009 & 1.5% job growth in 2010.
• Lafayette, Houma, and Lake Charles will be the state’s strongest metro economies with job growth of around 2% for the next two years.
• Baton Rouge will grow jobs at a little more than 0.6% in 2009 and 1.8% in 2010.
• New Orleans & Shreveport will suffer due to its reliance on tourism and manufacturing respectively with employment shrinking by about 1%.

The Louisiana economy has had several things in its favor that have helped to avoid the economic downturn. Our major industry, petrochemical, has benefited from the increase in energy prices, and our state was not involved in the “housing bubble” which helped to fuel the sub-prime lending mess. Businesses are still able to get credit here, and our banks “aren’t the ones that are in trouble,” according to Dr. Scott.

Some of the bright spots on the horizon for the state’s economy include:

• New Orleans, the state’s largest MSA, has approximately $20.3 billion in announced projects, including the new six-lane twin span over Lake Ponchartrain, the Marathon Refinery expansion, and Road Home monies of $7.5 billion for repair of damaged homes.
• Baton Rouge, the state’s second largest MSA, has $6.5 billion in construction projects including the $1.9 billion Shintech expansion, $554 million in Exxon Mobil environmental upgrades, and Stupp Corporation’s $60 million expansion.
• Lafayette, with its oil-rich geographic location, will benefit from high energy prices; the new discovery of the lower tertiary trend in the Gulf of Mexico will equal increased business for the region’s extraction firms, fabricators and drilling service firms; additionally there is a “hearty construction boom” whose projects include Lafayette Utility Service’s installation of its new fiber optics network, Lourdes Hospital $200 million construction project, and $40 million in planned construction for University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
• Houma will experience high performance growth from oil & gas extraction, shipbuilding, fabrication, and construction; shipbuilder Edison Chouest will hire 1,000 workers for its new LaShip shipyard; Gulf Island Fabricators has 7 new projects that will require 200 new hires; and Phase I of the $1.3 billion LA1 highway project has begun.
• Lake Charles will see its gambling industry expand with Pinnacle Entertainment's $350 million construction of its Sugarcane Bayou Casino Resort; a huge synthetic natural gas plant construction project by Leucadia, financed by $1.6 billion in Go Zone bonds.

Although there will be some slowdown in employment growth for the state, we are in a much better position than the rest of the country!

Source: Louisiana Economic Outlook , 27th Annual Edition 2009-2010, Prepared by Loren C. Scott, James A. Richardson, M. Dek Terrell Published by LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business, Dept. of Economics

Rule changes in the Family and Medical Leave Act are in the process of being published in the Federal Register and could occur as early as this month. The changes are targeted at definitions clarification, medical certification process requirements, and requirements for employee notice of leave to their employers.

The current rules continue to impact business and are causing some confusion in the workplace. The Department of Labor has identified the difficulty in proper administration of FMLA and the ability to be used by employees as a justification for not complying with workplace rules. For additional details see the source articles.

Sources: Final Rule Changes Sent to OMB, 10/28/08, Bill Leonard SHRM and FMLA Regulations Need Work, 04/11/08 Aliah Wright

During this holiday season, Frazee Recruiting Consultants, Inc. will be saying a big “thank you” to their customers by making a donation to The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. In lieu of their traditional client holiday gift, Frazee will honor their customers via a donation to combat hunger.

“With the economic downturn and its effect on so many families, we are doing away with our traditional client holiday gift and using the monies for people in need,” says company President Marianne Frazee. “The increase in food and gas prices, coupled with the decreased purchasing power of the dollar, has caused us to re-think our corporate giving policy. Non-profits most always see their donations decrease during a recession and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank will most likely be no different.”

“What better way to celebrate the holiday season than giving to others who are less fortunate. We, at Frazee, have been blessed with wonderful clients and employees. I can’t think of a better way to show appreciation to our clients than honoring them with a donation that benefits the less fortunate in our community!”