katrina-survivor.com

Immediately after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 New Orleans was focused on rebuilding, providing opportunities for those in the area and those from outside of the city and state to find work. Not only was this employment more than minimum wage there was literally years of work to do to get the city back up and fully rebuilt. Even five years after the devastation rebuilding and new building continues on in the city and in the effected areas all along the Gulf Coast. The rate of building is much slower, but there is still work to be found in the construction industry.
With increasing numbers of people coming back to the city stores, restaurants and entertainment centers were some of the next businesses to begin to hire. For the first year after Katrina employers had difficulty in finding workers for restaurant and retail jobs as the construction and rebuilding work was higher paying and more profitable for many workers. This trend has changed over time as the number of construction jobs decreased and the city size expanded forming more of a work force.
Currently New Orleans and other major cities in Louisiana have a higher than average unemployment rate. The state also has a slightly higher than average foreclosure rates compared to neighboring states. However the foreclosure rate in Louisiana is much less than on the West or East coast, providing options for people seeking employment to easily relocate to the area.