The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, which hit Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Mississippi in late August 2005, were far-reaching.
In 2006, the Bush administration sought over $100 billion for repairs and reconstruction in the region, making the storm the costliest natural disaster in US history.[1] This does not account for damage to the economy caused by potential interruption of the oil supply and exports of commodities such as cotton. Before Hurricane Katrina, the region supported approximately one million non-farm jobs, with 600,000 of them in New Orleans. One study, by Mark Burton and Michael J. Hicks, estimated the total economic impact to Louisiana and Mississippi may exceed $150 billion.[2] Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, including nearly everyone who lived in New Orleans, were left unemployed. No paychecks were being cashed and no money was being spent, and therefore no taxes were being collected by local governments. The lack of revenue will limit the resources of the affected communities and states for years to come. Before the storm, the region was already one of the poorest in America with one of the highest unemployment rates.
There was also some concern when, on September 8, 2005, President Bush temporarily suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in the affected areas, which allowed for contractors working on Federal construction projects to be paid less than the prevailing local wage.[3] The concerns over these actions were primarily that allowing the government to pay less than the prevailing wage would contribute to increased poverty in the region, which already ranked among the lowest in the nation in terms of household income.[4] The act was later reinstated on October 26, 2005, amid political pressure from both Democrats and Republicans in the United States Congress.