Posts Tagged ‘economy’

The Advocate is reporting that the parent firm to insurance company USAgencies has announced that it will move 56 jobs from Chicago and invest $1.2 million in an expansion of the Bon Carré Business Center, where it will relocate about 200 employees from the United Plaza on Essen Lane. These new employees will support about 200 retail locations in nine states, presumably in the Southwest.

We applaud the work of the City Government under the leadership of Mayor-President Kip Holden for their work in proving to the company that Baton Rouge is the ideal economic client for corporate expansion.

Forbes is reporting that an analyst at J.P. Morgan has downgraded Shaw Group, a Baton Rouge-based Fortune 500 company, and cut the 2010 earnings estimate due to reduced demand in a few of their numerous industries. However, Shaw Group still remains strong in many areas, including their commercial nuclear construction divisions, which was recently given a contract to build a nuclear power plant in China. Such industries as this strengthen the durability of a conglomerate despite other weakening industries because the market is limited and the scope of the contracts is enormous. Shaw’s stock dropped about 5.5% at the time of publication because of this.

Chris Schultz, a New Orleans-based internet entrepreneur and founder of Voodoo Ventures, wrote an interesting article yesterday discussing the potentiality of a mentorship-based seed fund program in Louisiana. For those of you unfamiliar with venture capital, it’s basically a program that provides initial capital—including money, office space and mentoring from some top entrepreneurs—to startup companies. It’s a system that’s been around for some time and has turned out some really awesome companies.

When I think about the real-world impact that a program like this would have and the allocation of economic development and grant dollars that are being spent in Louisiana on advertising, conferences, infrastructure, administrative staff, workforce development, it seems like a drop in the bucket to get a program like this off the ground and I believe it is an investment worth making.

The entrepreneurial spirit within Louisiana is strong, as clear from the numerous interviews we’ve conducted with local entrepreneurs. I think this is a program that could not only work, but also perform extraordinarily well in Louisiana. the Baton Rougean supports this initiative because of the potential economic impact. If a program like this every comes to fruition, we’d like to help in every way possible, because when any Louisiana-based company succeeds, we all do.

You can read the full article here →

It’s been reported that some Baton Rouge agencies are deciding how to profit from the New Orleans selection to host the Super Bowl in 2013 that we reported recently. When it was last hosted in 2002, the local agencies slipped up and we saw little economic activity directly related to the Super Bowl which is just a shame. So, I have a few recommendations for Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Showcase Baton Rouge. Show the potential Super Bowl attendants that Baton Rouge is a great tourist city. Entice them to come early and leave late. Advertise the huge availability of hotels. Make the choice to stay in Baton Rouge (which is really just a short drive to the venue) easier by offering incentives: What about a shuttle to the Super Bowl? How about preferred parking in the Super Dome complex?

If I were going to the Super Bowl and was flying from out of town, I’d surely bite at a hotel package that was cheaper and offered either a free shuttle or free parking at the venue. Even if it was just cheaper, I’d probably book Baton Rouge, because the tickets are already expensive enough.

Mr Arrigo, these suggestions are the result of one college student brainstorming. I don’t even have a marketing degree! Use your position to siphon the massive economic impact of the Super Bowl to our city. Don’t let 2013 be 2002—bring the money here!

The 2009 Hurricane Sales Tax Holiday is this Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31. The holiday exempts certain items marked as essential in hurricane preparedness from the 4% state sales tax. The hurricane season begins on July 1, so this is a great time to stock up. The following items are included in the holiday:

• Self-powered light sources, such as flashlights and candles
• Portable self-powered radios, two-way radios, and weather-band radios
• Tarpaulins or other flexible waterproof sheeting
• Ground anchor systems or tie-down kits
• Gas or diesel fuel tanks
• Batteries: AAA, AA, C, D, 6-volt, or 9-volt (automobile batteries and boat batteries are not eligible)
• Cellular phone batteries and chargers
• Non-electric food storage coolers
• Portable generators
• Storm shutter devices
• Carbon monoxide detectors
• Blue ice products

Thanks to @kmcusick for the tip via our tip line.

Big news in the Baton Rouge economy today.

Today the employment numbers were released for the state. Overall, the state lost 8,000 jobs, 6,700 of those non-farm. The state’s unemployment rate went up from 5.8% to 6.2%, and up from 4.1% a year ago. Baton Rouge, however, added 800 jobs over 2008, thought we lost 2,100 in March over 2008. Of course, this isn’t much of a surprise. Earlier this month, we reported the loss of jobs by several major firms in Baton Rouge. Now, it’s clear that the national recession is finally catching up to Louisiana. It’s good to see our local economy still faring well. Forbes noted Baton Rouge’s propensity for job density last week when it honored Baton Rouge with a place in the top college towns in America.

In other news, Shaw Group, Baton Rouge’s Fortune 500 company, announced a major five-year, $375 million contract with the US Department of Homeland Security. The contract is for emergency services, including housing, construction and engineering services, mass care and planning, staffing and logistics, for FEMA during disasters in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

In a report published yesterday by Forbes Magazine, Baton Rouge was ranked eighth in the top 20 college towns in America. The ranking concludes that post-graduates who live in these cities should stay put because of fair economic conditions. Baton Rouge’s 2.16% job growth since 2008 played a major role in its selection, along with other key economic factors. Of course, the recent job cuts don’t help, but the presence of major Fortune-listed companies helps to stabilize our fairly strong economy.

The full report can be found at the Forbes web site.

Yesterday, The Advocate the termination of 49 jobs due to economic circumstances. Today, Capital One Bank is announcing the loss of 180 Baton Rouge jobs. Albemarle, Baton Rouge’s Fortune 1000 company, also cut 351 jobs, but it’s unclear how many are Baton Rouge-based. However, they continue to employ about 650 people in Baton Rouge.

This brings the total job loss this week to 229.

It’s sad to see these jobs go, and we wish our fellow Baton Rougeans luck in finding new employment.

It’s strange seeing these new jobs losses amid job growth in the past few months. Here’s to hoping that these are isolated events and not the beginnings of a trend.

It’s not joke that our traditional news outlets in Baton Rouge are pretty top-notch and they’ve so far been able to avoid to plight of other less fortunate news outlets (such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer). However, today David Manship, publisher of The Advocate, announced the termination of 49 employees due to economic hardships. We all feel for these Baton Rougeans and hope they find work soon—and that they can find it in our beloved city.

More information is here.

In other news, the Baton Rougean hasn’t laid off anyone.

Chrysler announced today that as a part of its bankruptcy protection and restructuring it would be closing a phenomenal 789 dealerships around the globe. The company said that one of its main sustainability problems is the sheer number of dealerships it has. Apparently, because they built so many of them they have lower average sales than the likes of Honda or Toyota. They are pushing that this would ameliorate their condition.

Luckily for our readers, I scoured the 40 page list of the dealerships. To my count, there are 17 dealerships they are closing in Louisiana. None of them are in Baton Rouge.

You can read more about this story at the Wall Street Journal. Read the listing here.

[Note: You may see other news outlets reporting other numbers of dealerships closures. We contend that those numbers are wrong. We researched the whole document and there are exactly 17.]