The state of Louisiana has long been known to be hemorrhaging population. The state currently ranks 7th from the bottom when it comes to population growth in the country.
Young people have been leaving the state for better education and job opportunities for quite some time now, and it's beginning to have tangible impacts on the state of the job market in the area. Allison Plyer is Chief Demographer with The Data Center and sees some worrisome points within the recent data.
"Louisiana had a small population growth over the past year with roughly 3,000 people moving to the state. However, about 14,000 people moved out of the state and the main reason we even had a gain is that we had about 15,000 international immigrants move into the state. That's the only thing that offset that domestic outward migration pattern," Plyer notes. She also points out that increased immigration enforcement may actually cause a downward trend when it comes to future population growth within the state.
While there has been talk of job growth in Louisiana, Plyer notes that the type of jobs expanding within the state do not lend themselves well to long-term economic opportunities. "This is the exact problem with the type of facilities the state has been building. There are very, very few permanent jobs associated with them. When they make the big announcements, they often say there are going to be a number of permanent jobs. However, when it comes down to it, a lot of it is automation," Plyer went on to explain.