Building off our previous reports, this updated Life After High School 2024 report examines the economic and educational realities facing young New Orleanians whose high years were shaped by the pandemic.
Introduction
High school graduation is a pivotal time in the lives of young people. The choices made at this juncture greatly impact the direction of the rest of a person’s life.
In 2019, the Cowen Institute released the first Life After High School report and website, with the aim to explore the lives of young people aged 16-24 in New Orleans by examining their education and employment pathways.
In the years since, we have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly disrupted the lives of young people both in New Orleans and across the country. Students were forced to engage in distance and virtual learning, which a growing body of research has shown negatively impacted their academic performance and mental health. Building off our previous reports, this updated Life After High School 2024 report examines the economic and educational realities facing young New Orleanians whose high years were shaped by the pandemic.
In this report, we present data on current jobs and wages in the city, with a focus on industries that employ larger numbers of 18-24 year olds. We also look to postsecondary education data, with a focus on enrollment trends among historically excluded populations to examine whether students are not just matriculating to college, but also persisting and graduating.
Relying on a variety of data sources, this report provides a descriptive summary of the educational and employment outcomes of young people in New Orleans between the ages of 16-24. Data on the local and national economy, as well as on postsecondary education, can help young people and families make better informed decisions about career and educational pathways.
While we have used some of the best economic and educational data sources available (see the methodology section for a full breakdown), no amount of data can ever construct a complete picture of the individual experiences of every young person in the city. We hope that this report serves as a foundation for a broader discussion about the employment and educational opportunities available for young people in our city.
Special Thanks To Our Funders
We want to thank the Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Booth-Bricker Fund for their generous support of Life After High School 2024.
New Orleans Demographics
In order to contextualize the economic and educational data presented in this report, we’ll begin by presenting a demographic overview of the New Orleans population. Here are some key facts to keep in mind as you read the report:
The Population
The population in Orleans Parish in 2023 was 363,937 people. This marks a continued decline in the city’s population: since 2018, the population has decreased by 7.0%, with a net loss of 27,569 people (from 391,506 in 2018). In just the past year, the population dropped by nearly 6,000 people. Lightcast forecasting data projects the population to continue to decline over the next five years, with an expected decrease of 7.6% between 2023 and 2028, resulting in a further loss of 27,776 people. Since 2018, the largest declines in population by age group have been:
- 25 to 29 year olds: -31%
- 30 to 34 year olds: -19%
- 55 to 59 year olds: -18%
- Under 5 years: -18%
- 50 to 54 year olds: -15%
This data, coupled with declining enrollment in the earliest grades in New Orleans’ schools, suggest the city’s population decrease could continue for the foreseeable future.
A declining population can have significant negative impacts on the city’s economy and public services. Fewer residents means fewer people to support local businesses and pay property taxes. The population decrease therefore should be viewed as a potential problem for the economic viability of the city long-term.
New Orleans is more racially diverse than the U.S. as a whole. However, the racial demographics of the city are changing, with the Black population experiencing the greatest decline in population of any racial subgroup. In 2022, an estimated 57% of the population in New Orleans was Black, while 32% were White non-Hispanic, 4% were White Hispanic, and 3% were Asian. The Black population in New Orleans has declined by 10% since 2018 (for a net loss of 24,263 Black residents). Comparatively, the White non-Hispanic population in the city has decreased by only 3% over the same time period (for a net loss of 3,850 people).
With regards to gender, the city’s demographics remained the same from 2022 to 2023: 53% of the population in New Orleans identified as females, and 47% as males. (Note: Labor data does not include non-binary individuals in the data.)
In 2023, 22% of the city’s population was 19 years old or under and 13% of the population was between 15 and 24, the latter of which was an increase from 11% in 2022. A majority of the population was between 20 and 60 years old and just 4% of the population was 80 years old or above. According to Lightcast demographic data, based on the age of the population, the city has a higher rate of millennials and an average rate of people approaching retirement compared to ratios across the country.
Educational Attainment
Educational attainment levels in New Orleans are on par with the national average and notably higher than in Louisiana as a whole.
In 2023, 22% of Orleans Parish residents held a Bachelor’s Degree (about 1% above the national average). 45% of New Orleanians had some form of a postsecondary degree (Associate’s, Bachelor’s, or a graduate degree), which was notably higher than the rate for all Louisiana residents of 34%. Nationally, 44% of the entire U.S. population holds a postsecondary degree. Additionally, 33% of New Orleans residents had only a high school degree or less, which was better than the state rate of 46% and the national rate of 37%.
However, in New Orleans, there were significant educational attainment disparities along racial lines: in 2023, 71% of White New Orleans residents had a college degree compared to 29% of Black New Orleanians. Additionally, 15% of Black residents had not earned a high school diploma, compared to only 3% of White residents. A high school degree was the highest level of educational attainment for 57% of Black city residents, compared to 26% of White residents.
These differences in educational attainment likely play a significant role in the economic and employment disparities between White and Black city residents, in terms of both income levels and employment rates.
Inbound and Outbound Migration
As we have done in previous reports, this year’s Life After High School also examines inbound and outbound migration. This could suggest whether city residents are satisfied with the educational, economic, and overall lifestyle opportunities offered by the city. A significant inbound migration would indicate the city was attracting new residents, while outbound migration would indicate it was losing them.
Unsurprisingly, the decline in overall population is echoed in the migration data. Migration data indicates that New Orleans had an overall negative migration rate in 2021 (the last year for which data was available), meaning that more residents moved out of the city than moved in. The total net migration for New Orleans in 2021 was -5,185. The largest movement occurred with residents moving to neighboring Jefferson Parish: 5,844 people moved from New Orleans to Jefferson Parish in 2021, which was around 1,000 more than moved into the city from Jefferson Parish. The other parishes and counties that the greatest number of former Orleans Parish residents relocated to included St. Tammany Parish (LA), St. Bernard Parish (LA), and Harris County (TX).
Economic Data
As we noted last year, the New Orleans economy, like that of many cities in the U.S., was negatively affected by the pandemic. The city’s economy contracted, in large part due to the sudden reduction in tourism dollars flowing into the city. Due to the city’s heavy reliance on tourism, it should not be a surprise that the economy experienced these losses when restaurants and bars closed, and less tourists traveled to the city.
However, it’s important to note that even prior to the pandemic, the city’s economy was not thriving. For decades, the economy of New Orleans has been overly reliant on tourism as its main economic generator. This is a leading factor in why New Orleans has so many lower paying jobs, as the tourism sector typically pays less than other industries.
Job Growth
New Orleans has not experienced a post-pandemic economic recovery in the same way as other cities or metro areas. According to Lightcast data, from 2018 to 2023, the number of jobs declined by 4.4% in Orleans Parish from a total of 229,778 to 219,725. Nationally, the total number of jobs increased by 3.6% over this time, meaning that New Orleans actually lagged behind the national rate by 8%.
Unemployment
There are some positive indicators for the local economy, however. Even as the total number of jobs in the city declined, the labor force participation rate has increased modestly over the past few years. The labor participation rate (this is a calculation of the number of people working divided by the total working-age population) was 59% in 2023, which was up from 57% in 2019. Additionally, the unemployment rate in the city is slightly lower than it was before the pandemic. In 2023, the unemployment rate was 4.4%, whereas in 2019, it stood at 4.7% (in 2020, it reached a high of 12.4%).
Fortunately, the youth unemployment rate in New Orleans is relatively low — just 5% of the entire unemployed population in New Orleans are 24 years old or younger. Given that they are the prime working ages of most adults, the majority of unemployed New Orleans are aged 25-34 (24%) or 35-44 (28%).
Black New Orleanians have disproportionately high rates of unemployment compared to overall city demographics. Despite the overall demographics of the city and the fact that Black residents make up the majority of the population, only 37% of all jobs were held by Black residents in 2023, while 51% were held by White residents. These numbers suggest race plays a significant factor in terms of employment in New Orleans. Collectively, this data strongly suggests that racial bias in hiring and job availability could impact the ability of city youth to find employment after leaving high school.
Industries
As we noted last year, in 2022, with the end of many pandemic restrictions and the return of relatively normal rates of tourism to the city, Accommodation and Food Services once again became the largest industry in terms of total number of jobs in the city (Government was the largest employer in 2020 and 2021). The city has nearly twice the number of Accommodation and Food Services jobs as the national average for a city of its size, with nearly 35,000 total jobs or around 17% of all jobs in the city. Government is the second largest industry in the city with nearly 31,000 total jobs.
Health Care and Social Assistance and Educational Services were the two other largest industries based on job totals in the city for 2023, with the number of jobs in Educational Services being nearly five times the national average for a city of New Orleans’ size.
The city’s relatively weak economy is also evidenced by the low number of jobs in industries like Manufacturing, Finance, and Construction compared to national averages. This again points to weaknesses in the New Orleans economy overall due in part to a lack of economic diversity.
As was true in 2022, Accommodation and Food Services was also the largest industry employer of 19-24 year olds in the city, indicating that many New Orleans youth who decide to enter the workforce are doing so in this industry after they leave high school. Government and Retail Trade were the two other largest industries for youth 19-24 to work in based on the total number of jobs.
This matters in part because Accommodation and Food Services in New Orleans is an industry with some of the lowest wages and highest relative rates of unemployment. The overall rate for the entire Accommodation and Food Services industry was more than 5% in 2023, and specific parts of the industry have even higher rates: for instance, Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations had the second highest unemployment rate of any industry sector in the city (only “Office and Administrative Support Occupations” has a higher rate of 13%) — at 12%, the unemployment rate is also twice the national average for the sector. This indicates that those working in the profession could experience high degrees of turnover or periods of joblessness throughout their career — a bleak prospect for city youth whose main opportunities for employment are in the industry.
As for wages, the average annual earnings of those working in Accommodation and Food Services was $39,818 in 2023, which was the lowest average of the 20 largest industry employers in the city. (As a means of comparison, MIT’s Living Wage Calculator estimates that a family of two adults and two children require a household income of $77,113 in Orleans Parish to meet all their expenses). By contrast, the city has very few jobs in the industries in the city with the highest average annual earnings. Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction, Utilities, Management of Companies and Enterprises, and Finance (all of which have average earnings of over $100,000), collectively employ less than 10,000 people total, which is less than a third of the number of jobs in the Accommodation and Food Services sector.
As we have concluded in previous issues of this report, New Orleans has a low number of high-paying jobs and those that do exist are disproportionately held by White individuals. This data suggests that many New Orleanians who leave high school face a relatively limited labor market.
In Demand Skills and Growth Industries
We also wanted to use available economic data to examine which professions offered young people in the city the greatest opportunities to find employment. According to Lightcast data, the skills that are most in demand from employers in the city are:
- Nursing
- Occupational safety and health
- Data entry
- Medical privacy
- Marketing
The top growing occupations in the city are:
- Management
- Business and financial operations
- Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
- Computer and Mathematical
- Legal
Lightcast also analyzes job postings which can indicate trends in which professions are most in demand and looking for new hires in the city. According to that data set, the occupations with the top monthly postings are:
- Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
- Management
- Food Preparation and Serving Related
- Office and Administrative Support
- Sales and Related
These trends suggest that many of the better employment opportunities in the city will require young people to receive additional education and training after graduating from high school.
Postsecondary Data
The data in this section focuses on the outcomes for New Orleans high school students at postsecondary institutions. It presents college-enrollment rates cumulatively, and broken down by each high school in the city. Additionally, it examines college re-enrollment rates for the city’s high school graduates — this is the percentage of students who re-enroll in and continue their postsecondary education after completing their first year.
In order to have a comprehensive perspective on the data, it’s important to understand some basic demographic information about New Orleans students and the context of their school system. New Orleans’ public education system is notable for its governance model; for the past several years, it was the only public school system in the country composed exclusively of charter schools.
As of October 2023, there were 45,468 PreK-12 students enrolled in public schools in New Orleans, including NOLA-PS schools and Type 2 charter schools (Type 2 charters are those overseen by the state Board of Education, which is frequently referred to as BESE). The city’s schools serve primarily students of color (90.1%) and/or students from economically disadvantaged (ED) backgrounds (80.9%). While the majority of the city’s public school students are Black (72.0%), there has been an increase in the number of White and Hispanic students in public schools over the past decade (though the percentage of ED students has remained relatively stable). It is also important to note that overall student enrollment in public schools has dropped by 7% since 2019 (a total of 3,600 students), with the largest declines in the lowest grades.
Enrollment in most public schools in New Orleans follows a school choice and “open enrollment” model. Students are not assigned to neighborhood schools according to geographic catchment zones. Instead, families rank their top schools and New Orleans Public Schools then assigns students to schools using an algorithm that prioritizes a number of factors, such as whether a sibling of the student attends the schools and how close the student lives to the school. Yet, despite the citywide open enrollment policies, inequities persist along racial and economic lines.
While academic performance and high school graduation rates in New Orleans saw a dramatic increase in the first decade after Hurricane Katrina, they have stagnated in recent years. The 2022 cohort graduation rate for public school students in the city was nearly 79%. This is below the average cohort graduation rate for the state of Louisiana, which was 83%.
College enrollment among students from New Orleans public high schools has increased over time. However, in 2020, we saw a drop in college enrollment among New Orleans public high school students. In 2020, an estimated 57% of New Orleans public high school students enrolled in college, a 4% drop from 2019. The downward trend continued in 2021, with 56% of New Orleans public high school graduates enrolling in college. College enrollment among Orleans Parish public high school graduates did remain slightly higher than the state-wide college enrollment rate of 54%.
While a higher-than-state-average rate of public high school graduates from Orleans Parish enroll in college, they are less likely to persist to the second year of college than their peers in the state. As mentioned above, of the graduating class of 2020 (the last year for which persistence data is available), 57% of Orleans Parish high school graduates enrolled in college (compared to 54% statewide). Of those students, 63% persisted through to the second year of college (compared to 72% statewide). This discrepancy in persistence carries across key subgroups. In Orleans Parish, 59% of Black students persisted to the second year (compared to 64% statewide) and 58% of students from low-income households persisted (compared to 63% statewide).
Conclusion and Recommendations
We intend this report to offer a realistic overview of both the current outcomes and available opportunities for New Orleans public education high school graduates. There are some reasons for optimism, especially on the education front, as more New Orleans public school graduates are attending college than in the past. However, for many New Orleans students, postsecondary education is not possible without significant financial assistance, and policy changes, such as the recent decision by the state legislature to rollback the requirement that all Louisiana students complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), could mean that fewer students have the financial means to access college.
Additionally, the New Orleans’ economy continues to be heavily predicated around tourism and service industries with relatively low-paying occupations. This limits the opportunities for upward mobility that New Orleans’ young people have, whether they choose to attend a postsecondary institution after graduating or if they go straight into the workforce.
While we would very much like to see a more diversified economy in New Orleans, the Cowen Institute is not an organization with expertise in how to spur regional economic growth. Therefore, based on the data in this report, our two main recommendations focus on college affordability and data availability:
College Affordability: Given the importance of postsecondary education for economic mobility, it is crucial to address barriers to college affordability. To increase student’s access to financial aid, we recommend that Louisiana reinstate the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) completion requirement for high school graduation or incorporate FAFSA completion rates as a component of Louisiana’s accountability framework for schools. This would encourage more students to apply for financial aid and make informed decisions about their college options, potentially increasing enrollment and persistence rates, particularly among underserved populations.
Data Availability: Access to comprehensive and reliable data on college enrollment, persistence, and completion is essential for understanding and addressing educational disparities in New Orleans. We recommend increased availability and access to such data, both at the local and state levels.