BRAC’s Economic Indicator Dashboard examines and assesses the impact of COVID-19 on the regional economy, taking into account a number of data points to illustrate the economy’s current state, and to keep businesses informed as it rebounds. Past dashboards are archived on brac.org/recovery.
Key findings from this week’s dashboard include:
- Unemployment claims have fallen for the fourteenth consecutive week, and are down 63% from the height of the pandemic;
- Consumer spending has nearly completely recovered in Livingston and East Baton Rouge, and is above pre-pandemic levels in Ascension;
- Retail fuel sales continue to outperform sales from a similar week in 2019, up 13% over-the-year in the metro area;
- The Capital Region continues to recover jobs more slowly than its peer metro areas: all peer areas are within 5% of their pre-pandemic employment count, while Baton Rouge is still nearly 8% below; and
- Leisure & Hospitality (-28.4% below pre-pandemic job levels) and construction (-17.8%) continue to be the most negatively-effected sectors.