Sales tax numbers point to economic slowdown

Late spring is revealing an economic downturn in Eunice and St. Landry Parish judging from sales tax collections and employment numbers.
Sales tax collections were released by the St. Landry Parish School Board Sales Tax Division and job numbers were reported by the Louisiana Workforce Commission from federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Eunice sales tax collections were $397,377 in May, down $27,898 from May a year ago when collections were $425,275.
The numbers reflect a 6.6 percent decline in Eunice city sales tax collections in May compared to May 2015.
Year-to-date collections in Eunice are down 1.2 percent compared to the first five months of 2015. Eunice sales tax collections were $2,256,760 from January through May compared to $2,284,658 for the same months in 2015.
St. Landry Parish sales tax collections took a steeper dive with $4,917,288 tallied in May, down 9.2 percent from May 2015’s $5,414,612.
Current year-to-date collections in St. Landry Parish are $27,193,440, which is 2.8 percent behind last year’s total for January through May of $27,983,707.
Eunice sales tax collections have been down three of the first five months of the year. Sales tax collections this year started strong with $576,495 collected in January, but have been on the decline since then. The January collection in 2015 was $532,171. The only other month exceeding the same month’s collections a year ago was in April, which had a total of $483,899, up from $475,447.
In St. Landry Parish, sales tax collections have been down in all months this year except April when collections were $6,277,911, up from $6,230,189 a year ago in April.
Unemployment rates and workforce numbers also point to an economic slowdown.
St. Landry Parish’s unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in April, up from 7.7 percent in April 2015. Out of a workforce of 33,419, there were 30,780 people employed and 2,639 people looking for jobs. That compares to 31,399 employed and 2,612 unemployed in April 2015. The April unemployment rate was down from March’s 8.1 percent.
In Evangeline Parish, the April jobless rate was 7.1 percent, down from 7.2 percent a year ago. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 11,926 people working and 913 unemployed in April. In April 2015, there were 12,068 people working and 941 unemployed. The jobless rate rose from March’s 7.6 percent.
Acadia Parish’s unemployment rate in April was 7.2 percent, up from 6.4 percent in April 2015. There were 23,725 people employed and 1,827 unemployed in April compared to 24,578 working and 1,679 unemployed a year ago. The April jobless rate was down from 7.3 percent in March.
Lafayette Parish’s unemployment rate in April was 6.9 percent, down from 7.1 percent in March and up from 6 percent a year ago;
The parish sales tax total includes parish, school, solid waste, law enforcement and municipal taxes.
The sales tax rate in Eunice is 10.75 percent. Of that 5 percent is state, 3.55 percent is parish and 2.2 percent is city.
Unincorporated areas pay a 10.5 percent sales tax revenue, which includes 5 percent state and 5.5 percent parish rates.
On April 1, the state sales tax rate rose by 1 percent.