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COMPREHENSIVE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY |
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COMPREHENSIVE
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY |
This section gives information that should answer the question, “Where are we now?” and should give a clear understanding of the economic situation in Northwest Louisiana. It is the result of relevant research of the staff of The Coordinating & Development Corporation. District Seven is located in the northwestern corner of the State of Louisiana and contains approximately 18% of the total land area of the State. The district is bordered on the west by Texas, on the north by Arkansas, and is bisected from northwest to southeast by the Red River. It is approximately 85 miles in width and 130 miles in length. Its total land area is 7,741 square miles. It is comprised of the Louisiana Parishes of Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, DeSoto, Lincoln, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, and Webster. Demographic and Socioeconomic Data Analysis of demographic and socioeconomic data concerning population, age, race, education, income, and labor force is presented here as the most basic background needed for consideration of the Northwest Louisiana region. As appropriate, the analysis will consider past trends and/or comparison with State and national percentages. According to the 2000 Census the population of the ten parishes that comprise the region is 565,069. This represents 12.6% of the population of the State of Louisiana. An examination of the population figures from previous census years indicates that between 1990 and 2000, the population of Northwest Louisiana grew by 3.6%, reversing the decline experienced by the region in the previous decade and surpassing the region’s 1980 population. Three of the region’s parishes, Bienville, Claiborne, and Webster, experienced declining population from 1990 to 2000. Claiborne Parish experienced a decline of 3.18% during that time period, after having been one of only three Northwest Louisiana parishes to experience a population increase in the previous decade. Of the eight parishes experiencing population growth from 1990 to 2000, Bossier Parish had the largest numerical swell and the greatest percent increase. Bossier and Lincoln are the only parishes that, according to the decennial censuses, have not experienced any population decline between 1970 and 2000. Percent of Regional Population in Each Parish The City of Shreveport, with a 2000 population of 200,549, is the region’s largest city and accounts for the fact that Caddo Parish has the greatest percentage of the region’s population. However, since 1970, Caddo’s percentage of the region’s population has steadily declined from 47.1% in 1970 to 44.6% in 2000. Bossier is the only parish that has experienced steady increase in its percentage of the region’s population, going from 13.5% in 1970 to 17.4% in 2000. Red River Parish has the smallest portion of the region’s population and its percentage has declined from 1.9% in 1970 down to 1.7%. Of course, as population increases, so does population density. The region has gone from a population density of 63.1 persons per square mile in 1970 up to 73 persons per square mile in 2000. The largest population densities are found in the Parishes of Caddo and Bossier with 285.9 and 117.2 respectively. Bienville Parish has the lowest population density with only 19.4 persons per square mile.
Median Age According to the 2000 Census, seven of the ten parishes have median ages that are above the State’s median age, while five of the parishes have median ages that are above the Nation’s median age. They range from 26.5 in Lincoln Parish to 38.8 in bordering Bienville Parish. One population characteristic that says much about a region is the range of ages into which its population falls. According to the 2000 Census, 19.7% of Northwest Louisiana’s population was school age, while 60% was college and working age and 13.4% was retirement age. As demonstrated by the median age data, the age range data bears out the fact that between 1990 and 2000, the population shifted upward, with preschool age population declining by over eight percent and school age population dropping by less than one percent. During that same time period, college and working age population increased by over six percent and retirement age population increased by over five and a half percent. Bossier Parish is the only parish in the region that experienced increases in all age levels. The racial composition of Northwest Louisiana is comparable to the remainder of the “Cotton Belt” region across the southern United States. The largest racial minority is the African American population which, according to the 2000 Census, accounts for over 37% of the region’s total population. The percentage of African Americans comprising the region’s population has grown steadily since 1980 when it accounted for 34.2% of the population. Although four of the region’s ten parishes have seen the percentage of black population decline since 1980, Caddo, the parish with almost 45% of the region’s population, has seen a substantial rise in African American population percentage, from 37.8% in 1980 to 44.5% in 2000. The region’s Hispanic or Latino population comprises only 1.6% of the total population. However, it should be noted that the Hispanic population grew from 7,226 to 9,267 between 1990 and 2000, and that represents a 28% increase. With 3.2%, Bossier Parish has the largest percentage of Hispanics in the region.
Education Between 1990 and 2000, the percent of persons over 25 who graduated from high schools, attended some college (no degree), and graduated from college increased. Every parish in the region increased its percentage of high school graduates and only Lincoln Parish experienced a decline in the percent of persons who received some college education with no degree. Lincoln’s decline in that category is likely due to the fact that its percent of college graduates jumped by more than four percentage points. The only parish that experienced a decline in the percent of persons over the age of 15 with college degrees was Webster, which fell from 15.9% to 12.6%. Northwest Louisiana’s income levels are low, compared to those of the State of Louisiana and the United States. Nine out of ten of the region’s parishes have median household income levels below the State median. It should be noted that only Bossier Parish’s median was above the State level, and only Caddo Parish came within 95% of the State median household income. These two parishes are the most urbanized in the region and together they contain over 60% of the region’s population. No parish had a median household income in excess of the national median. Red River Parish had the lowest median household income, which was 55% of the national level, while Bossier Parish had the highest median family income at 93% of the U.S. median. Per capita income data from the 2000 Census also points out the fact that the region’s income level is low. Only the Parishes of Caddo and Bossier had per capita incomes higher than that of the State of Louisiana. The region as a whole had a per capita income that was 97% of that of the State. As was the case with median household income, every parish in the region had a per capita income that was lower than the national figure. The per capita income of the region as a whole was only 76% of the national per capita income. As with median household income, Red River Parish had the lowest figure, which was only 56% of the national level. Bossier had the highest per capita income in 1999. When comparing the 2000 Census with the 1990 Census with respect to per capita income, it should be noted that the region improved with respect to its standing in comparison to the national per capita income, but lost ground in comparison to the State per capita income. Every parish except for Caddo had a higher percent of U.S. per capita income in 1999 than it did in 1989. As mentioned previously, because almost 45% of the region’s population is in this one parish, it weighs heavily in the overall region’s figures. Note that the per capita income of the State of Louisiana grew at a faster rate than that of the nation or the region between 1989 and 1999. Thus, Northwest Louisiana went from having a per capita income that was slightly larger than that of the State to one that is slightly lower. After examining median household income and per capita income, it might be expected that Northwest Louisiana would have a high poverty rate, and this turns out to be the case. Every parish in the region has a poverty rate that is above that of the nation. As a result, 21.13% of Northwest Louisiana’s population is below the poverty level and this is 8.75 percentage points above national rate. The only parish in the region which has a percentage of its population that is smaller than that of the State is Bossier Parish. With 29.86% of its population below poverty level, Red River Parish has the highest rate in the region. Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment The size of Northwest Louisiana’s labor force has fluctuated from 1999 through 2002. The labor force declined by about 4,000 from 1999 to 2000, and then grew by more than 3,000 from 2000 to 2001. However, from 2001 to 2002, the labor force shrank to 251,310, which is more than 7,000 smaller than the 1999 labor force. The only parish in Northwest Louisiana that has not experienced any decline in the labor force from 1999 to 2002 was Red River Parish. This parish hit rock bottom when Sunbeam Corporation, a large employer in a very rural parish, suddenly closed its manufacturing operations in Coushatta, the Parish Seat of Red River Parish. Since then, the labor force has been slowly in recovery mode. Employment in Northwest Louisiana has followed a track very similar to that of the labor force. It decreased from 1999 to 2000, increased in 2001, and then fell below the 1999 level in 2002. As was the case with the labor force, Red River Parish is the only Northwest Louisiana parish to experience steady gains in employment from 1999 to 2002. With an overall decline in employment it should be expected that unemployment would rise, and it has. Between 1999 and 2002, the number of persons unemployed has grown from 12,660 to 18,570, which represents an increase of over 46%. Unlike labor force and employment figures, the number of persons unemployed has done nothing but rise each year. Of course, the rate of unemployment has increased along with the number of unemployed persons. In 1999, Northwest Louisiana’s rate of unemployment was 4.9% and lower than the State unemployment rate by two tenths of a percent. By 2002, the region’s unemployment rate had grown each year and had reached 7.4%, which was one and three tenths percentage points above the State unemployment rate. The Parishes of Bienville, DeSoto, and Red River all had unemployment rates above ten percent in 2002. For many years now, Lincoln Parish has experienced the least trouble with respect to labor force and employment of any of the Northwest Louisiana parishes. Between 1999 and 2002, Lincoln Parish’s unemployment rate climbed from 2.4% to 4.7%. But even with its unemployment nearly doubling, this parish continues to have the lowest rate of unemployment in the region and among the lowest in the State. The labor market participation rate of an area is the percent of persons 16 years of age and over who are in the labor force. For Northwest Louisiana, according to the 2000 Census, the labor market participation rate for this region is 59.2%, which is 0.2 percentage points below the State rate and 4.7 percentage points below the national rate. Bossier Parish is the only parish in the region with a labor market participation rate greater than that of the nation. The rural parishes have rates that range from 48.3% to 59.4%, all of which are more than four percentage points lower than the national rate. It should be noted that the region’s labor market participation rate was higher in 2000 than it was in 1990. It should also be noted that in 2000, the region’s labor market participation rate was much closer to the State and national rates than in 1990. Northwest Louisiana has greater labor market participation among males than females. This is true for the State and the nation as well. The participation rate for Northwest Louisiana males is 66.1%, which falls about one tenth of a percentage point behind the State rate, and 4.7 percentage points behind the national rate. For females, the district’s rate is 53.2%, which is 0.7 percentage points lower than the State rate and 4.4 percentage points lower than the national rate. There are specialized needs that concern subsets of the labor force. According to the Louisiana Department of Labor, in 2001, females comprised 47.3% of the region’s labor force. This is a slightly higher portion than that of the State’s female percentage. The region’s female unemployment rate in 2001 was about 0.4 percentage points higher than the State female unemployment for that year, and 0.2 percentage points higher than the overall unemployment rate for Northwest Louisiana. In 2001, almost 31.8% of Northwest Louisiana’s labor force was of a minority race. This was three and a half percentage points higher than the percent of the State’s labor force that was minority. Only 17.7% of Sabine Parish’s labor force was minority, while Bienville Parish’s labor force was over 44% minority. The region’s unemployment rate among minorities was 12.2% in 2001, which was 6.4 percentage points higher than the overall unemployment rate for the district. The Coordinating
and Development Corp. |
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