The average weekly wage for Louisiana workers rose 8.6% from the first quarter of 2021 through the first quarter of 2022, according to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but workers also experienced one of the worst 12-month periods for inflation over that same span.
Louisiana was tied for the 16th highest rate of U.S. states and significantly higher than the U.S. average of 6.7%, but due to inflation, Louisianans weren’t bringing home any extra cash.
Over that same period, from March 2021 to March 2022, consumer prices rose 8.5%, which was the largest increase over a 12-month period the nation had seen since December 1981. The 12-month inflation rate would increase to 8.6% and 9.1% in May and June, respectively.
When accounting for inflation, the increase was nonexistent. The BLS shows that $1,058 in March 2022 had the same buying power as $975, which was the average weekly wage in the first quarter of 2021, according to the BLS.
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The BLS also released data on some of the largest counties in the U.S., including seven Louisiana parishes. The data released Wednesday included Caddo, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Lafayette, Orleans and St. Tammany. Data for other parishes in Louisiana is expected to be released in the coming months.
Of Louisiana’s most populous parishes, Caddo had the largest increase in average weekly wage, rising 9.1% to $981 in the first quarter of 2022. Of the largest 355 counties in the U.S., Caddo ranked 68th in percent increase for wages.
The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages lists Caddo Parish’s average wage in the first quarter of 2021 as $897. The average wages and percent changes may not match because the BLS uses an adjusted version of the data to calculate percent change from year to year.
Adjusted for inflation, the average wage only increased by around $7 per week.
Caddo Parish did not see as large a rise in overall employment over the same time period, with the number of workers rising around 1.1%. Caddo ranked near the bottom of the nation’s largest counties for employment growth at 333rd.
Jefferson Parish had the second-largest percent increase for average wages, rising 8.7% to $1,100. The parish ranked 82nd among the 355 largest counties. In 2021, the average wage was around $1,011.
When adjusted for inflation, the average wage only increased by about $2 per week.
Jefferson was specifically mentioned in the BLS press release announcing the data as having one of the largest decreases in employment over the period. Employment fell by around 0.8% for the parish, which was the lowest of the counties that met the agency’s disclosure standards.