It has seemed like a mirage. Back in 2015, employment in Louisiana eclipsed two million jobs for the first time ever. It was a noteworthy moment, but lasted for only a brief four-month period before slipping back to lower levels where it remained for a decade.
Now with the release of new preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Louisiana has now exceeded the two million job mark for the last seven months in a row. That’s a new record in Louisiana’s economic history.
While we didn’t rocket past that mark, the Bayou State’s economic performance is clearly more stable than it was previously. On top of that, Louisiana’s economic outlook for 2026 looks strong with projections for continued hiring and business expansion. That suggests employment should remain above two million and possibly exceed the all-time record of 2,007,200 nonfarm jobs set in December of 2014. Right now, Louisiana is only about 2,000 jobs away from that mark.
In Better Louisiana’s annual Louisiana Fact Book, we keep track of job growth as a measure of Louisiana’s economic well-being, along with factors such as median household income, business tax climate and population. You can read our data and analysis on the Economy in the latest Fact Book here.
Unfortunately, Louisiana’s job growth over the last decade has lagged well behind the U.S. South during a period where the region as a whole experienced rapid job and population expansion. That crisis in performance led to important structural changes at Louisiana Economic Development, more funding from the state budget, major reforms of Louisiana’s tax code, and significant changes to the state’s incentive programs.
And the tide appears to be turning in terms of Louisiana’s economic development performance, too. Last month, LED released a year-end, analysis of its work in 2026 which counted $61 billion in investments and 9,300 announced jobs with an estimated average salary of $91,000. Better Louisiana hopes this is the beginning of a trend that makes the two million job mark the new normal.