END OF YEAR ADDRESS - Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards held his end-of-year address earlier this week, an event aimed at highlighting some of the state’s high-points for 2022. Edwards spoke before reporters at the Governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge, He addressed about a number of topics including recent state unemployment numbers.
“At the end of last week we announced for the sixth month in a row we’ve broken our own unemployment record with non-seasonally adjusted unemployment at 2.9%, seasonally-adjusted remained at 3.3%,” Edwards explained. “That’s quite impressive as it is but I think it’s even more impressive when you think where we were two years ago, well less than two years ago at the height of the Covid pandemic.”
Louisiana has experienced back-to-back record-low unemployment numbers for the past few months. Edwards also segued into the state’s financial health regarding Louisiana’s budget surpluses from last year and this year.
“We’ve gone from about a $2 billion deficit when I became governor to surpluses in excess together show about $2 billion to the good,” Edwards said. “That is a huge step forward for our state.”
Edwards credits the state being in the black due to diversifying and growing Louisiana’s economy. He did point out that the state’s “rainy-day fund” will be 25% of the budget surplus which will bring it to around $900 million dollars, an amount he said is more than the day he became governor. Edwards said historic investments were made this year in infrastructure, higher education, and pay raises for teachers
When asked about abortion laws, the governor said it’s been relatively smooth in the shift in policy. But added there is room for improvement to clarify the medical futility portion of the law and he’s asked the legislature to put an exception for rape and incest.