Unlike the other eight MSAs, a key metric for this MSA is its relatively high dependency on durable goods manufacturing employment, which makes the area much more susceptible to national recessions. Some of the larger durable goods manufacturers are:.

First, like elsewhere in the economy, many of its sectors were shut down or at significantly reduced operations due to the shelter-in-place orders mandated by the governor. Secondly, job losses were magnified in the MSA by the fact that this is a large gaming market with over 4,800 employees.

The good news is that after about eight years of losses, we see the Shreveport-Bossier MSA on an expansion path over the next two years. The not-so-great news is we see this trend being modest at best. We are projecting the Shreveport-Bossier MSA will add about 300 jobs a year over 2020-21, a growth rate of about 0.