Baton Rouge Business Report
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber today released its COVID-19 economic indicator dashboard, a report that examines the impact of the pandemic on the regional economy.
“Indicators show an improving economy, but one where many Capital Region residents are still out of work,” says Andrew Fitzgerald, senior director of business intelligence for BRAC, in a prepared statement. “As more federal stimulus looks unlikely before the November election, it is crucial that Baton Rouge area parishes continue the progress they have made regarding low COVID-19 positivity rates in order to encourage state and local officials to allow more of our hardest-hit sectors to reopen.”
Key findings from this week’s dashboard include:
• Retail fuel sales fell after a hurricane-related spike, but year-over-year weekly sales have been above 2019 numbers for three weeks in a row, and four out of the last five weeks.
• Weekly unemployment claims have fallen every week for more than two months.
• Hotel occupancy remained strong compared to the same week last year, and revenues were more than $1 million higher for the week ending Sept 12.
• Mobility data shows that travel to retail and recreation remains low, but more people are traveling to work.
See BRAC’s full report here.