Shreveport works to plug 'brain drain'

Shreveport, Louisiana, and nearby Bossier City are key logistics points for ferrying goods and commodities through their corner of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District.

Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan visited the area in June and heard from business leaders about the local economy and economic development plans.

While Shreveport still relies on the oil and gas industry, a renewable-energy logistics company is expanding its footprint in the area. And a new facility that makes parts for wind farms and solar parks is expected to create new jobs.

The busy industrial sector in part drove overall commercial real estate lending in northern Louisiana up by 23 percent for the one‐year period ended March 31, according to data from the FFIEC, Reports of Condition and Income (Call Reports).

Combined with a defense industry anchored by nearby Barksdale Air Force Base, business leaders counted logistics as an economic cornerstone. However, they also told Logan that the area’s ability to attract and retain the workforce needed to support those industries is an area of concern.

Shreveport’s population declined 3.7 percent from 2010 to 2022, lagging the nation’s 7.7 percent increase over the same period, according to Census Bureau data. The civilian labor force in Shreveport took an even bigger decline of 8.4 percent over the same time period.

Business leaders told Logan that the Shreveport workforce was experiencing a “brain drain.” Jobs requiring two-year degrees were more readily available than those needing four-year degrees, and business leaders said that young, educated workers were leaving the area for jobs and higher wages in places like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.

The struggle to keep people and attract investment in Shreveport has left swaths of downtown storefronts and offices in disuse. And the city’s median income of about $48,000 is less than the state’s and nation’s.

Lower housing costs were touted as incentives to entice more visitors to become residents. But to illustrate the area’s lingering reliance on out-of-towners, one banker said, proportionately, he sees “a lot of Texas license plates in Louisiana.”

One critical group of workers enticed away to bigger cities during the pandemic and yet to return are nurses, local leaders said.

Hospitals in Shreveport and nearby rural communities can’t compete with signing bonuses and higher salaries elsewhere, one health-care industry leader said. With poverty levels high compared with the rest of the state and nation, health-care needs are critical, leaders said. These gaps are growing as federal funding from the pandemic has run out. One complication is a lack of instructors to mint new nurses from the local population. Because of the lower pay instructors receive, more experienced nurses in the area are electing to practice, rather than teach.

One local health care industry leader recently struck a partnership to fund teaching programs at nearby Louisiana Tech University and attract more health-care instructors by supplementing the gap in pay between instructors and practicing nurses.

While Shreveport’s railyards and port are full, the city’s waterfront casinos are not.

More than one in 10 jobs in Shreveport is tied to the leisure and hospitality industry, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. But with Oklahoma casinos increasingly drawing Dallas-Fort Worth customers north, the casinos that have helped anchor Shreveport’s economy for a quarter century have been left empty on some nights.

Revenues for riverboat casinos in the Shreveport-Bossier market were down 9.4 percent in May from the same month one year earlier, according to Louisiana Gaming Control Board data.

And while gaming has waned, one business leader said sports tourism is the area’s fastest growing leisure industry. But business leaders said downtown investments, like improving walkability, are badly needed to revive the convention industry.

Bankers in Shreveport told Logan that downtown office occupancy is low compared with other metro areas in the Eleventh District. They said an uncertain economic outlook and the future of returning to the office is clouding business and real-estate investment.

Deposit volatility caused by the banking stresses earlier this year has plateaued, bankers told Logan. They said many banks in the area are signing up for and testing access to the Fed’s discount window in response to events this spring.

Logan met with a retired schoolteacher who was able to manage overwhelming healthcare bills and reestablish positive cashflow with help from the Shreveport Financial Empowerment Center (SFEC).

Shreveport-Bossier City’s 21.4 percent poverty rate is almost double the nation’s, but even those managing to stay above the poverty line while struggling with their finances have made use of the center’s financial assistance and coaching. Another SFEC client who met with Logan said their credit score increased from 521 to 630 in about one year of working with the center after falling behind on bills, including their mortgage payments.

Counselors have a steady clientele base and are handling about 100 cases. The center is a public-private partnership made possible by funding from the city, private donors and the United Way.