Reality check for Vice President Joe Biden - KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

By Fred Childers - bio | email

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - In giving the republican response to President Obama's speech Tuesday night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal pointed out fundamental differences in how republicans and democrats see the economy.

Wednesday morning on the CBS Early Show, Vice President Joe Biden asked, "But what I don't understand from Governor Jindal is what would he do? In Louisiana, there's 400 people a day losing their jobs. What's he doing?"

But that claim is wrong if you look at the numbers from the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

"In December, Louisiana was the only state in the nation besides the District of Columbia, according to the national press release, that added employment over the month," said Patty Granier with the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

"The state gained 3,700 jobs for the seasonally adjusted employment," Granier said of the most recent figures.

Those numbers are available on Louisiana's employment website, laworks.net.

Also available on the site are the state's latest unemployment statistics, statistics that appear to directly contradict what the vice president said Wednesday morning.

The latest statistics show from the week ending January 17th, there were 4,527 claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana. For the next week, that number dropped to 4,179. Economists credit a diverse economy for Louisiana's resilience to unemployment.

It's unclear where the vice president got his unemployment figures from.   

The unemployment rate in Louisiana has gone up from 5.3 percent to 5.9 percent. Some blame that on a bigger workforce in the state, however that rate is still less than the national average of 7.2 percent.

A call to the White House on the source of Mr. Biden's information has not been returned.