Louisiana Human Development Index
9/14/09
Project Description:
Commissioned by Oxfam America and the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (with additional funding from the Foundation for the Mid South), A Portrait of Louisiana is the second in a series of U.S. state analyses conducted by the American Human Development Project (see also A Portrait of Mississippi, 2009). It measures the same components as the international index created by the United Nations Development Programme, such as literacy rates and median earnings, but uses data that better reflects the U.S. context. Data is aggregated from official U.S. government sources, primarily the U.S. Census Bureau. Using updated 2007 data, the report for Louisiana finds significant variation in overall human development within the state, particularly when taking into account gaps by race/ethnicity and gender. It highlights development trends in the state and calls for action in the recovery period post-Katrina.
Key Research Findings:
- Women in Louisiana live longer and have higher educational levels than men, but they earn far less, resulting in a lower overall Human Development Index score.
- The well-being gap between whites and African Americans is larger in Louisiana and three other states (Mississippi, Nebraska, and Alabama) than it is anywhere else in the country.
- Life expectancy by parish spans a 7.5 year range, from an average life span of just under 71 years in Orleans (East) to 78.4 years in Vernon-Beauregard.
- The high school dropout rate ranges from 8.8 percent of adults in East Baton Rouge (South)-West Baton Rouge to nearly one in three (31.4 percent) in the St. Landry-Evangeline parish group. And while only 10 percent of adults in the Avoyelles-Concordia parish group have a bachelor's degree, 45.7 percent do in East Baton Rouge (South).
- Median personal earnings in Louisiana are $24,376--$4,264 lower than the national average of $28,640.
- When both race and gender are taken into account, white males in Louisiana have the highest level of human development, followed closely by white females. African American women are next, and African American men have the lowest human development score, one comparable to that of the average American in the late 1960s.
- The gender gap among Louisiana's African Americans is much larger than among whites: African American women have a Human Development Index score that is 40 percent higher than African American males in Louisiana.
Researcher Recommendations:
- Improve the quality and quantity of education in Louisiana. Research suggests that if all adults in the state had at least a high school diploma about 85,000 fewer Louisianans would live in poverty, median personal earnings would increase by more than $1,700 per year, there would be 62 fewer murders, and 10,000 fewer people would be behind bars.
- Prioritize and increase educational investments in Louisiana's daughters and, particularly, its African American sons. Such investment is vital to a level playing field.
- Promote transparency and accountability with strong oversight. Since 2005, the Gulf states have received upward of $140 billion in federal dollars for hurricane recovery and a new federal stimulus bill directs another $3.3 billion to Louisiana. The government of Louisiana should provide regular, easily accessible reports to the general public on the use of recovery dollars. Reports should list recently awarded contracts and track the progress of large projects.
Research Contacts:
A Portrait of Louisiana launches September 17, 2009 in New Orleans. Full report text will be available online at www.measureofamerica.org/louisiana. To order free copies of the report, email: info@louisianahelp.org, or phone: 225.383.1672.
Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis, Co-Directors, American Human Development Project, contact@measureofamerica.org.
Related Bibliography:
1) American Human Development Project and United Way. "Common Good Forecaster," online tool, 2009. www.measureofamerica.org/forecaster.
2) Burd-Sharps, Sarah, Kristen Lewis, and Eduardo Borges Martins. The Measure of America: American Human Development Report 2008-2009. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
3) Burd-Sharps, Sarah, Kristen Lewis, and Eduardo Borges Martins. "A Portrait of Mississippi: Mississippi Human Development Report 2009." American Human Development Project, 2009.
The SSRC Katrina Task Force oversees a range of research projects
on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and acts as a clearinghouse for
information emerging from those projects. For additional literature on
Hurricane Katrina see our Research Bibliography. For more information about the SSRC Katrina Task Force see the Katrina Hub or contact Siovahn Walker at
walker@ssrc.org. For other Research Bulletins see our Archive.
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