Yesterday, St. Tammany Corporation, announced the latest release of the organization’s digital research publication of The AnalyST, a curated one-of-a-kind economic report on local, regional, and national economic trends.
The trends report covers the third and fourth quarters of 2021 and is designed to be a marketing and education publication that is useful for audiences both inside and outside of St. Tammany Parish.
St. Tammany Parish has consistently shown unemployment rates lower than the region, state, and nation, with December 2021 showing the lowest unemployment rate on record at 2.6%. The extraordinarily low unemployment rate is connected to local businesses’ reported labor struggles and the fact that there are still about 4,800 fewer workers in the local labor force compared to before the pandemic affected our economy in Q1 2020.
St. Tammany Parish has seen a significant increase in both the number of residential real estate properties sold and the sale price of these homes. Currently, there is low inventory of residential homes, causing houses to be sold at higher-than-average prices.
The rapid rate of inflation is a nationwide issue causing drastic price increases for consumer goods, including food, housing, and medical care, which puts a strain on consumers’ budgets. During the fourth quarter of 2021, inflation increased 8.1% compared to the fourth quarter of the 2020, which is the highest rate of inflation in more than 40 years, or since 1980.
Inflation has also resulted in higher local sales tax collection numbers in St. Tammany Parish, with total sales tax collections in the second half of 2021 increasing 26% compared to previous years’ averages.
To view The AnalyST in its entirety, see attachment or visit https://sttammanystats.com/the-analyst/.
