St. Tammany Parish total employment is closing in on the 100,000-employment level.  Second quarter total employment stood at 99,834 employees.   The actual change compared to the second quarter employment last year is yet to be determined as the Louisiana Department of Labor (LDL) is continuing its benchmarking of labor statistics for all Louisiana parishes and updating labor statistics to establish a more accurate employment count for each parish.  LDL is updating their 2004 statistics as they go through the year and has begun to update employment figures starting with June 2004.  Employment updates for April and May 2004 are not complete.   The June over June comparison of Parish employment growth showed an increase of 2.2%, (101,043 vs. 98,892).  Employment figures for the second quarter and year-to-date periods shown in the Economic Indicators page include some of the old employment data of last year so the percent changes do not reflect true employment changes for the periods.  Unemployment insurance initial claims continue to show positive performance as second quarter initial claims were 30.7% lower than for the second quarter last year.  Year-to-date claims were 22.5% lower than for the year-to-date period last year.  Second quarter unemployment rate for St. Tammany Parish, 3.7%, continues to be well below both the state and the nation.

Single-family building permits in the second quarter for the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish grew at a slower pace compared with the second quarter last year.  Second quarter permits were 17.4% lower than for the second quarter last year while year-to-date permits issued were 4.5% or 61 permits lower than last year-to-date numbers.  A possible cause for the slower growth is increasing cost of construction including labor and building materials thus pushing finished home prices upward and somewhat dampening demand.  Rising construction cost and, ultimately, the final price of a new home could possibly squeeze the market to include only those who can absorb the rising cost of a new home while in the construction stage.  As the flow of homebuyers into St. Tammany Parish continues, expansion of commercial and retail facilities remains strong.  Second quarter commercial building permits for the unincorporated portion of St. Tammany Parish increased 33.9% over commercial building permits issued in the second quarter last year.  Year-to-date commercial building permits issued were up 10.6% compared with same period last year.

Average price of a home sold in the second quarter in St. Tammany Parish increased 14.0% compared with the average price of a sold home in the second quarter last year and increased 13.6% over the first quarter this year. Average price of a home sold in the second quarter was $208,402 compared to $182,773 in the second quarter last year.  The number of homes sold in the second quarter increased 7.1% over the second quarter last year.  Year-to-date number of houses sold was 7.2% higher than for the year-to-date period last year and up 46.3% over the first quarter.   Second quarter housing dollar sales volume increased 22.2% over the dollar sales volume in the second quarter last year and up 66.3% over the first quarter.   Year-to-date dollar sales volume was 18.9% higher than for the year-to-date dollar sales volume in the same period last year.

St. Tammany Parish and surrounding parish households pushed second quarter total sales higher than second quarter sales last year by 11.7%.  Year-to-date total sales were 10.4% higher than the year-to-date sales last year.  Sales in each of the three months in the quarter were ahead of respective months in the second quarter last year and each of the first six months sales also were ahead of sales in corresponding months last year.   Over the past several months a number of retail strip centers have developed throughout the Parish and some existing retail outlets have been expanded.

New business startups have accelerated as second quarter new businesses were 14.2% higher than startups for the second quarter business last year.   Accelerated business startups in the second quarter helped reduce the negative year-to-date over year-to-date comparison to -15.2%.  This is a drop from the first quarter year-to-date over year-to-date negative comparison of -37.8%.  Another several months of new business startups data will better demonstrate if the business startups have reversed from several months of slumping number of startups.

Second quarter announced investment increased 5.9% over the second quarter last year.  Year-to-date investment remains behind last year-to-date announced investment, -36.4%.  Second quarter announced projects are expected to generate 60 permanent jobs and 173 construction jobs.  Second quarter and year-to-date expected permanent job creation were both lagging respective period performances last year.  Second quarter announced project results, compared to second quarter results last year was better than the first quarter over first quarter comparison.

Second quarter electric customer level compared to the second quarter customers last year was 3.6% higher.  This growth was 0.3 of a percent lower than the first quarter over first quarter comparison of 3.9%.  This slight growth decrease can be attributed to the slower growth of residential construction noted above.

Hotel receipts are on the rise as second quarter receipts exceeded last year receipts by 13.4%.  Year-to-date hotel receipts were ahead of year-to-date receipts last year by 4.1%.  May and June receipts were the highest in the 1999 – 2005 period.  This performance follows months of year over year lagging hotel receipts.  After months of lagging year over year occupancy tax collections (bed tax) second quarter bed tax collections were 4.9% ahead of second quarter bed tax collections last year.  This positive performance was not enough to bring year-to-date over year-to-date collections into the black.  Year-to-date bed tax collections were 4.9% below year-to-date collections last year.

First quarter 2005 cost of living index for St. Tammany Parish was 96.9.  Based on a 100 scale, St. Tammany Parish composite cost of living for middle management households was 3.1% below the national average.  St. Tammany Parish First quarter ranking was 9th among a group of twelve selected metropolitan areas nearest geographically to St. Tammany Parish with composite indices ranging from 88.6 for Jackson, MS to 102.1 for Baton Rouge.  Other metropolitan indices were Beaumont, TX, 89.4; Mobile, 90.9; Hattiesburg, 92.4; Biloxi-Gulfport, 92.5; Lake Charles, 93.8; Montgomery, 94.3; Lafayette, LA, 95.8; Tuscaloosa, 98.3; and Pensacola, 101.6.

After rising for two months, The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for the U.S. dipped three points in July.  “July’s decline in Consumer Confidence is no cause for concern,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center.  “The overall state of the economy remains healthy and consumers’ outlook suggests no storm clouds on the short-term horizon.  Even the steady upward tick of fuel prices at the pump has done relatively little to dampen consumer’s spirits.  Yet, while there is little to suggest a downturn in activity, there is also little to suggest a pickup.  The outlook for the labor market was mixed.  Consumers expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months edged up.  Consumers’ overall assessment of ongoing conditions was somewhat mixed in July.  Consumers’ outlook for the next six months was marginally less favorable than in June.”

In June all three U.S. indexes (leading, coincident and lagging) increased for the month.  “The leading index increased sharply in June following no change in May.  The leading index has increased at a 1.2% annual rate over the last six months, but is down from a peak at the end of 2003.  Strengths and weaknesses among the components of the leading index have been roughly balanced in recent months.  The coincident index, a measure of current economic activity, increased again in June.  The coincident index has been increasing at a relatively steady 2.5% annual rate since April 2003, and strength continues to be widespread.  At the same time, growth rate of real GDP has been fluctuating around a 4.0 percent annual rate over the last two years.  The leading index increased rapidly through the first quarter of 2004 but this has been followed by steady slowing of growth through the first half of 2005.  Sharp pickup in June keeps the leading index on a slightly rising trend and this behavior is continuing to expand moderately in the near term, but at a slower pace than in recent quarters.”   Second quarter St. Tammany Parish economy grew 6.4% while twelve-month growth was 3.4%.  All five components making up the five-component composite index recorded expansion in the second quarter including employment, single-family permits, electric customers, hotel receipt and total sales.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS