Capital Region manufacturing sector sees record high job numbers

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Baton Rouge’s manufacturing industry saw a record high 30,900 jobs in June, according to the latest numbers from the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s monthly dashboard that breaks down the Capital Region’s economic growth.

“This month’s dashboard shows that job postings are up 7.5% over the last year and Baton Rouge’s labor force is 4% larger than it was at the beginning of the COVID pandemic despite the thousands of workers that chose to retire early,” says Jake Polansky, BRAC manager of economic and policy research. “Additionally, there were more manufacturing jobs in Baton Rouge in June than there have been at any point going back to the ‘90s.”

Other key takeaways from this month’s dashboard include:

  • Baton Rouge lost around 4,700 jobs in June.
  • Baton Rouge is at 420,300 nonfarm jobs, up 4.4% year over year.
  • Manufacturing sector jobs have increased by about 1,000 over the last five months and 1,900 over the last year.