Metro Economies Going Strong

BATON ROUGE — Metropolitan areas across south Louisiana fared well in 2013 in terms of the value of goods and services they produced. The percentage gains in gross domestic product placed Lake Charles among the nation's 10 fastest-growing metro areas. Two other metros — Baton Rouge and Houma-Thibodaux — were among the top 20. Those findings were released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Lake Charles' goods and services were valued at nearly $14.9 billion last year, and its growth rate was 7.9 percent. The Houma-Thibodaux area's GDP grew to nearly $13 billion in 2013. Those numbers revealed a growth rate of 6.8 percent. The Baton Rouge area's GDP of nearly $52.3 billion was an increase of $2.6 billion over 2012. (AP NEWS).