Katrina's Costs

A large percentage of the 561,000 housing units in New Orleans are likely destroyed, according to the National Association. of Realtors. While many of them will probably be rebuilt, some of the construction will also shift to Baton Rouge and other Louisiana cities, creating more construction, architecture and engineering jobs in these areas.

Still, the economic outlook in the region is far from rosy. Even with support from the government and other cities, Katrina could reduce employment by 400,000 people in coming months and trim economic growth by as much as a full percentage point in the second half of this year, according to a Congressional Budget Office assessment.


Are these costs going to affect us? What more can we do to help this? How bad is this on our economy? This natural disaster destroyed any economic growth that was going on, and will take many many years to recover.