The Katrina Index: Making a living

From the Institute's report, Blueprint for Gulf Renewal: The Katrina Crisis and a Community Agenda for Action, released this week.

Economy and Jobs

Number of jobs lost in the New Orleans area since Hurricane Katrina: 118,000

Percent of stores, malls and restaurants that remain closed in New Orleans: 25

Value of Gulf Opportunity Zone projects approved to date in Louisiana to stimulate business recovery: $4.5 billion

Number of GO Zone projects located in New Orleans: 1

Number of luxury condos a developer plans to build with GO Zone tax breaks near the University of Alabama, four hours from the coast: 10

Months after Katrina struck that the Small Business Administration finished processing loan applications submitted for the storms: 21

Percent of Katrina contracts that went to Louisiana small businesses as of April 2007, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to pledge an increase in contract awards: 12.5

Percent that went to Louisiana small businesses four months later: 7.4

Number of Katrina contracts that federal agencies claimed had gone to Louisiana small businesses, but were later revealed to have gone to big companies or ineligible recipients: 259

Value of wages the U.S. Labor Department has recovered from contractors that failed to pay their employees: $5.4 million

Rank of Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville" Casino and Resort among largest private development projects proposed on the Mississippi coast: 1

Rank of "can't pay for move" among reasons those displaced by Katrina say they aren't coming back to Louisiana: 1