Louisiana has lagged behind other states in terms of job growth. Here are the plans to improve

Over the past eight years, Louisiana’s economic development performance lagged behind that of other most other Southern states and efforts to recruit new businesses slowed down. A series of reforms approved earlier this year aims to reverse those numbers, the head of a nonprofit organization said Wednesday.

Adam Knapp, president and CEO of the Committee of 100, a nonprofit charged by Gov. Jeff Landry to offer recommendations to Louisiana Economic Development, said while the agency was one of the best in the nation in terms of supporting small and emerging businesses, it was falling short in other areas.

Knapp told the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge Wednesday that when LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois asked how many employees worked in business development, recruiting new companies to the state “not a hand went up”. Efforts to target investment in areas of emphasis for metro areas were not being promoted aggressively.

While the number of non-farm jobs increased by 8.9% across the South from 2016 to 2023, Louisiana actually lost 12,000 jobs over that period, he said. In comparison, Mississippi, which posted the second slowest growth rate, added 44,000 jobs over that time. 

The number of visits LED officials made with existing businesses dropped by 35% during former Gov. John Bel Edwards' time in office, compared to the number of visits made in the previous eight years under former Gov. Bobby Jindal. Visits with new business prospects dropped even more, by 49%, Knapp said. That led to similar drops in the number of new economic development announcements and new jobs. 

Knapp, who served as the longtime head of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber before going over to the Committee of 100 in November, blamed the underperformance on instability at LED. 

"We have changed economic development strategy every time we elect a new governor. They bring on a new secretary and it's done slightly differently. They might change out some or many of their team. And that then means we have a whole different way we are executing and presenting ourselves to the national or global market," he said. The agency hadn't created a long-range plan for economic development since the late 1990s.

A series of reforms passed by the Legislature will give private sector leadership an advisory role with LED. The board will be selected by the governor, the speaker of the house and the senate speaker. The members of the 11-member board should be announced soon, Knapp said. Members will have staggered terms to ensure some continuity. 

The goal of the board is to set a long-term strategic plan, with performance metrics, and hold LED and other state agencies accountable. 

Knapp said the Committee of 100 will push for a 10% rate of economic growth over the next decade. "If we get one or two wins a year, we can drive that," he said. 

This story has been changed from when it was first published to correct the goals of the Committee of 100 and to accurately reflect the nature of the LED private advisory board.