sk the typical U.S. business executive to name the hottest per-capita job market in Louisiana, and it's unlikely that he or she would come up with the right answer: Houma in Terrebonne Parish.
   Located 55 miles (88 km.) southwest of New Orleans and 83 miles (133 km.) due south of Baton Rouge, Houma has become a job magnet in a parish of 110,000 people and a metro region of nearly 200,000.
   Since March 2006, the Houma metro area has added 7,100 jobs, many of them in high-wage manufacturing.
   Consider that since late 2005, two companies have announced plant expansions that cumulatively account for US$100 million in capital investment: Edison Chouest and LaShip LLC.
   Both are shipbuilders, which is appropriate for a parish that is located at the intersection of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Houma Navigational Canal, and is just a 26-mile (42-km.) voyage from the Gulf of Mexico.
   "We have the lowest unemployment rate in all of Louisiana," says Don Schwab, the elected parish president. "Our effective jobless rate is just one percent. Tax revenues are up 18 percent post-Katrina and post-Rita [the two hurricanes that rocked the Louisiana coast in September and October of 2005], and they have been up in all of 2005 and all of 2006."
   Schwab says the job demand comes primarily from the oil and gas companies and the many firms that supply and service them, plus rapidly expanding businesses in the fields of fishing, fabrication and boat-building.
   Patrick Seely, general manager of Weatherford Gemoco in Houma, says his firm is investing $46 million into the area and going from 100,000 sq. ft. (9,290 sq. m.) to 280,000 sq. ft. (26,012 sq. m.). The company makes the primary cementation equipment used in the drilling phase of oil exploration.
   The firm is relocating and expanding its facility from 13 acres (5.3 hectares) to 30 acres (12.2 hectares) at its new site on Louisiana 311 north of Highway 90 to avoid further risk of storm-event flooding.
   "We are the largest manufacturer in the world for our industry," says Seely. "We ship globally from right here in Terrebonne Parish. Half of what we make here goes overseas – everywhere there's oil."
   The Houston-based company operates at six plant locations in Houma and has 5,000 employees worldwide. "Our new plant will be one of the largest manufacturing sites in the firm," Seely notes. "We have 340 employees in Houma and plan to add another 50 workers over the next few years."
   Seely credits state and local support with making the project happen. "The Terrebonne Economic Development Authority took the lead on this project," he says. "That was the first group I contacted. They went after dollars on our behalf for infrastructure such as roads and water and gas lines. We received a $900,000 grant for infrastructure from the state and $300,000 for infrastructure from the parish."
   The company plans to complete its new plant in December 2008 and move production there shortly after that date.    Roy Francis, an executive with Gulf Island Fabrication, tells a similar story. The company, which manufactures drilling and production platforms, recently completed a $30-million expansion in Houma and is launching a new marine division that will create an additional 200 jobs.
   "We are located on the Houma Navigation Canal because it provides direct access to the Gulf of Mexico with no powerlines or other overhead restrictions," says Francis, whose company transports some of the largest manufactured products in the world. "We like being located in the Central Gulf region where we have access to a skilled work force and numerous vendors and suppliers. Plus, we have a lot of available property for expansion."
   Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. and its subsidiary Gulf Island LLC employ 1,250 workers in Terrebonne and 2,200 companywide, including operations in Texas.
   "We especially like the number of skilled craftsmen in the parish, and they all have a very good work ethic," says Francis.
   Francis says his firm receives vital support from state and local government. "Every state has issues. However, the people of South Louisiana are very innovative, aggressive and hard-working," he says. "South Louisiana provides a good location for hemispheric trade, the largest river system in North America, 26 ports, numerous waterways, trunk-line rail systems, a skilled work force and available land. Plus, Louisiana is the leader in oil and gas service and manufacturing."
   Supporting this industry is the Port of Terrebonne, located at the convergence of the Intracoastal and the canal. The medium-draft port has a slip depth of 15 feet (4.57 m.), slip width of 400 feet (122 m.), and a 400-acre (162-hectare) industrial site with parcels available for lease.
   "We mainly serve the fabrication firms – the biggest industry in the parish," says Dave Rabalais, executive director of the port. "There is a lot of shipbuilding and a lot of support for the oil business here."
   Because of the rising demand for support and service work in the oil and gas sector, employment at the port has been booming, adding 400 jobs since July of 2006 with the prospect of adding a bunch more.
   "The LaShip deal will create 750 jobs, and another unnamed prospect, if it decides to locate here, will create another 300 jobs," says Rabalais. "Combined with other ongoing expansions, we have more than 1,000 jobs coming on line in the next two years."    The port has secured six major tenants in the past three years: Thoma-Sea Boatbuilders, Knight Well Services, RR Company of America, Performance Energy, Eagle Dry-Dock & Marine Repair, and North American Fabricators, a division of Edison Chouest Offshore. NAF represents the largest port investment to date – $65 million and 750 jobs in the shipbuilding business.
   The port has a relatively brief history. Founded in 1963, its slip was dug in the late 1990s; property leasing to tenants began in late 2004.
   While other locations in South Louisiana were devastated by the one-two punch of Katrina and Rita, the Port of Terrebonne actually benefited from the storms.
   "We had the opposite happen to us. We were inundated with people looking to set up shop," Rabalais says. "We had more water than we've ever had before in the parish."
   Still, people and businesses flocked to Houma and smaller communities throughout the parish following the storms.
   Adjacent to the port, the Houma-Terrebonne Airport provides 1,800 acres (729 hectares) of industrial land with plenty of industrial lease opportunities.
   "We have experienced a 35.5-percent growth in operations since 2003," says Connie Lajaunie, the airport's director. "In based aircraft, there is a 17.1-percent growth from 105 in 2003 to 123 in 2007."
   The airport's 6,508-ft. (1,983-m.) runway can accommodate aircraft comparable to a C-130, while the industrial park claims 122 tenants. The airport is also the southernmost in all of Louisiana.
   Rabalais says there's still time for other executives to locate their businesses in Terrebonne. "We have 125 acres [50.6 hectares] left and available on the side that's developed and 190 acres [76.9 hectares] on the side that's not," he says. "It's very reasonable here to lease property, and you don't pay taxes on it."
   Plus, he says, "this place is a sportsman's paradise and a great place to live."