Economist Dr. Loren Scott talks about the effects of the Coronavirus mandates on the state economy and how quickly - or slowly - a recovery is happening.

Scott says by the end of this year Louisiana will have lost more than 100,000 jobs because of statewide economic shutdown and ongoing orders regarding the operation of businesses. Scott adds that he anticipates a slow recovery estimating that around 70,000 of those jobs will return by the end of next year, but only 90,000 of the lost jobs will have returned by 2022, leaving Louisiana with more than 11,000 lost jobs.

"It was bad here. It was bad every place. That's the unique thing about this hit," Scott begins, "In April, the worst month, the first month we had of complete shutdown, the state shed almost 270,000 jobs. It was a serious blow."

Scott adds that a major part of the slow recovery is due to the sluggish rise in oil prices. That, he says, is doing real damage in oil-dependent regions, including Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and Hammond. However, those areas of the state are projected to regain all of the jobs they lost by the end of 2022.

Scott then points out that the news is not so good for our area of Louisiana, saying that the Shreveport-Bossier is only expected to regain 70% of lost jobs.

The Shreveport - Bossier area has lost more than 10 thousand jobs this year alone.And Scott says that our area's reliance on the gaming industry is one of the reasons we won't get all those jobs back.

 

 

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