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# Last to first in jobs
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/captial-region-economy-3rd-quarter-2026-the-partnership-baton-rouge/
- Published: 2026-10-27T00:43:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T00:43:17.000Z
- Description: Industrial construction is driving the fastest job growth among the Capital Region's Southern peers.
- Author: JR Ball
- Tags: News

The Capital Region went from the slowest job growth among six Southern peers last fall to the fastest this fall, and construction cranes did most of the lifting.

**Why it matters:** The region’s job boom is essentially an industrial construction boom. With jobs outside the sector holding steady, the regional economy rides on how fast the next plant goes up.

**Peer check:** The region’s 3.2% job growth beat all five comparable Southern metros over the past year, according to The Partnership’s [third-quarter report](https://brbythenumbers.substack.com/p/the-partnerships-state-of-the-regional-703).

- The region added 13,700 jobs, more than larger Greenville (12,100) and Birmingham (6,300), and its 441,600 total jobs sit mid-pack between Knoxville (456,300) and Columbia (440,000).
- Unemployment isn’t the peer leader, but the 3.5% August rate was the lowest August on record. That figure beats Columbia, Greenville and Little Rock, but Birmingham (3.4%) and Knoxville (3.2%) are still lower.
- The rate was 4.3% a year ago, when the region ran above the peer average. Now it’s in line with peers and slightly below Louisiana’s 3.7%.

**The engine:** Construction added 12,300 jobs over the year (+26%) and hit a record 58,700, while jobs outside the industry held about level.

- Professional and business services (+3,300) and private education and health services (+1,800) grew. Government (-3,400), trade, transportation and utilities (-1,100) and leisure and hospitality (-900) shrank.
- These are good jobs. The typical construction worker here earns about $105,700 a year, above both the region’s $69,293 median household income and the nation’s $81,600.
- The pipeline is deep, with [Hut 8’s](https://www.opportunitylouisiana.gov/news/hut-8-selects-southeast-louisiana-as-site-of-10-billion-artificial-intelligence-data-center?ref=redeyebr.com) $10 billion data center in West Feliciana Parish opening in 2027 and Hyundai Steel’s Donaldsonville mill opening in 2029, projected to need up to 4,800 construction workers at peak.
- A cautionary flag is that revised data show the region lost about 8,000 jobs from February to August 2025 when construction slowed.

**Paychecks and prices:** Capital Region workers earn more per week than workers in any other Louisiana metro, and the region’s cost advantages held through a fuel price spike.

- Private sector pay averaged $1,236.65 a week in September, about 3% above New Orleans, and grew 5.5% over the year against 3.7% inflation. New Orleans pay grew faster (+10.5%).
- Regular gas at $3.85 and diesel at $5.79 are 48 cents and 54 cents below national averages, even as prices are up 46% and 79% over the year.
- Louisiana’s industrial electricity rate of 6.65 cents per kilowatt-hour is the lowest in the South and 26% below the national average.
- Home values are up 26% since 2019 versus 48% nationally, rents are up 27% versus 40%, and the typical $1,366 rent takes about a quarter of the average private sector worker’s monthly pay.

**Since June:** Construction still drives the numbers, as *RedEye* reported [in June](https://www.redeyebr.com/capital-region-jobs-hit-record-high/), but the pace has picked up.

- Job growth doubled, from 1.6% in June to 3.2% now.
- Construction’s year-over-year gain nearly doubled, from 6,500 jobs to 12,300.
- Unemployment and claims are both heading down now. In June, claims were falling while the rate rose, and claims averaged 1,227 in September, down 28.7% from a year ago.

**The bottom line:** Industrial construction is carrying the Capital Region. Growth in other sectors would signal a more vibrant regional economy.