Labor problem: No housing. Still.

Chicago Tribune:

"It all adds up to a labor paradox: The New Orleans unemployment rate rose to 17.5 percent in November even as clothing stores, fast-food restaurants and delivery companies are offering thousands of dollars in signing bonuses to fill vacant positions. So scrambled are the region's demographics that the available workers and the open jobs just don't match up.

'You have a lack of housing in the New Orleans area, utilities out in a good portion of the city, people looking for schools for their children, you don't have day care or transportation,' said Ed Pratt, spokesman for the Louisiana Labor Department. 'Those are just some of the reasons why people are staying put where they are and not going home.'"