A new report issued by advocacy group Leaders for a Better Louisiana shows that the state's outmigration problem has slowed, with the state's population growing by 24,000 people.
However, one local analyst questions whether those numbers are accurate.
"I don't have, honestly, where they came up with those numbers," Data Center chief demographer Allison Plyer says. "All total, the state gained a little bit less than 4,000 people over the last year."
Plyer cited the United States Census Bureau's latest population estimate when giving those figures. Of those 4,000 new residents, Plyer says the vast majority, around 3,000, were born in Louisiana.
"We did have more births than deaths which we typically do," Plyer said. "Most states do every year."
The rest, Plyer said, are foreigners, including one group who's numbers may be inflating the state's in-migration figures.
"We have a disproportionate number of detention centers--ICE detention centers--in our state, and that could be the reason why our numbers are higher than our domestic outmigration," Plyer said. "They're being detained elsewhere and brought here."
Meanwhile, Plyer says more than 14,000 Americans fled the Pelican State.
"We continue to have very high negative domestic outmigration," Plyer said.
That domestic outmigration problem persists despite the state government's efforts to bring jobs to Louisiana in hopes of attracting and retaining workers. Why haven't those efforts worked?
"When we dug into it, we realized that so many of those big corporations are replacing workers with automation in those manufacturing facilities, LNG facilities, etc.," Plyer said. "It did not produce jobs. We're not really very optimistic about all these new announcements of investment because it turns out investment doesn't translate into jobs any more."
