Louisiana is in the midst of another industrial construction boom, and that could lead to a population boom.
Leaders for a Better Louisiana says six megaprojects are driving construction activity and will lead to an increase in population.
CEO Adam Knapp says between now and 2030, there will consistently be about 10,000 people working on the projects that include the Meta Data Center in Richland Parish and the Hyundai steel plant in Ascension Parish.
“At the peak of the projects, which we said looks like it’s going to be late ’26, early 2027, that’s when it’ll be probably around 20,000. And just these six sites,” Knapp said.
Knapp says while there are other industrial construction projects underway, these six projects are by far the biggest projects going on in the state at this time.
“Just about 25% of the state’s workers, in our total labor force of industrial construction in the state, would just be at those six sites,” Knapp noted.
Knapp says this industrial construction boom is reminiscent of the one that took place in Louisiana between 2012 and 2018.
“At that period, we grew by 30,000 construction jobs from where we started in 2012 to when it hit its peak. And the total state population grew by a little more than 60,000 people during that period,” Knapp said.