Data: Democrat John Bel Edwards' Louisiana Only State to Lose Jobs

Louisiana Democrat John Bel Edwards’ Louisiana was the only state last year to lose jobs, according to new jobs data released recently.

While many states have continued to enjoy the benefits of the Donald Trump economy and rising employment across most of the Union, Louisiana serves as the only state that has lost, according to recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.

According to BLS non-farm employment data from July 2018 to July2019, most southern states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, and others were able to achieve roughly one percent employment growth; however, Louisiana was the only state in the nation to have lost jobs over this time period.
The BLS found that Louisiana had lost one thousand jobs, unlike the rest of the United States, which had experienced record job growth.

Breitbart News’s Matthew Boyle reported that Louisiana Gov. Edwards has continually increased taxes while the state has experienced dismal growth, detailing that:

According to Forbes, Edwards raised state sales tax temporarily from 4 percent up to 5 percent, then permanently from 4 percent to 4.45 percent. According to the Washington Examiner, Edwards found a way to without the approval of the state legislature spend an additional $350 million in excess revenue rather than the returning the extra money back to the taxpayers. Overall, according to Watchdog.org, Edwards has raked in from taxpayers via tax hikes an additional $7 billion in the past few years. What’s more, during Edwards’ administration, in 2016 and 2017 according to state-by-state economic data in a report published by Governing magazine, the state of Louisiana was ground down to the slowest economic growth of any state in the union.

Also on Edwards’ watch, more people have left the state than jobs were created. In fact, in 2018, 10,000 people left Louisiana according to a report from December 2018 based on U.S. Census data, but according to a report in The Advocate–a Louisiana newspaper–the state only added 8,600 jobs in 2018.

It’s also on Edwards’ watch become the worst state in the union to raise a child, according to a 2017 report from nonprofit group Save The Children. Dueling 2018 reports put Louisiana in a bad spot when it comes to retirement as well: A 2018 report from Business Insider called it the fourth worst state to retire in, whereas Moneywise said in a 2018 report that Louisiana was the worst state in which to retire in the nation.

In contrast, Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-LA) hope to reinvigorate the economy by cutting taxes and regulations to increase Louisiana’s economy, while Edwards continues to worsen Louisiana’s economy.

Lionel Rainey, an Abraham adviser, told Breitbart News in May:

We’re one of the nation’s leading suppliers of oil and gas. John Bel Edwards, who is a trial lawyer, has gone on an anti-oil and gas crusade since he’s been in office–so much so that he has instructed our coastal parishes–which are our counties–to sue the oil and gas industry and if they didn’t he would. Under this governor, we have the worst economy in America–and it’s because he’s raised the most taxes of any state. We got I think the second highest tax rate now.

“And what you got is Abraham coming out and very simply mimicking what the president says–‘you want to get this thing moving? We’re going to cut taxes and create jobs,” Rainey added.