After a slow, but steady recovery, the Southwest Louisiana economy is performing better in at least three categories, employment, taxable sales, gaming revenues and exports. This remains the LNG epicenter. and the Lake Charles MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), which includes Cameron and Jeff Davis parishes, has the second highest median household income and lowest cost of living in the state, according to Dan Groft, director of the H.C. Drew Center for Business and Economic Analysis.

Groft gave his third annual State of Southwest Louisiana presentation to a packed house at the Seed Center on Thursday. Over 155 people attended.

For those who want to jump straight to the latest gross domestic product (GDP) to determine the state of the local economy, the numbers do not disappoint. The Lake Charles MSA enjoys the highest gross domestic product in the state, about $64,000 per capita, which is seven percent higher than normal.

“So even though we have a smaller population, when you spread out everything we produce in the area among the population, it’s by far the highest.”

The population, while smaller than other MSAs, is expected to grow.

“We’re going to end up growing,” Groft said. “It’s just a question of how much.” He is suggesting 2,500 to 3,000 additions across the five-parish area.

National recession worries could soon be yesterday’s news even though all will continue to feel the effects of higher prices and interest rates, according to Groft.     

“Just because inflation comes down doesn’t mean prices stop rising,” Groft warned. “Rather than rising 9.1 percent as they were at their peak, now they’re at about 3 percent.”

Yesterday, it was announced that the Feds might start cutting interest rates soon (maybe September).

The employment rate is inching up in the Lake Charles MSA, nevertheless there is an indication of loosening in the job market and labor participation rate.

The job rate has been slow across the state, and here.      

“Pretty much every state has recovered from pre-pandemic job loss. But Louisiana is like one of the four or the five that hasn’t. Even Mississippi has recovered, But when you look at our jobs, we are finally above pre-storm levels of employment. We’re still way below pandemic levels, but we’ve lost a lot of population.”

Loss of construction jobs is driving the drop, according to Groft.

“This was expected,” he said, “because once a lot of those big projects in Cameron were wrapped up, the construction workforce was going to go away. Also the higher interest rate is affecting residential construction.”

Construction might be down, but leisure, hospitality and other services are up. Taxable sales, up due to increased recovery spending, have leveled out and gaming revenues have “shot back up,” Groft said.