BATON ROUGE – Statewide employment remained high during May, according to statistics released by the Louisiana Department of Labor Secretary Garey Forster. Locally, St. Charles and St. James parishes improved their jobless rates, while St. John the Baptist Parish experienced a slight increase. In St. John the Baptist Parish, the jobless rate rose from 6.3 to 6.6 percent between April and May, but still better than the May 2000 mark of 7.4 percent. In St. Charles Parish, unemployment improved from 4.5 to 4.2 percent, and far above the 5.8 percent mark for May 2000. And in St. James Parish, unemployment improved from 9.7 to 9.2 percent, just above the May 2000 mark of 9.6 percent. That parish, however, remains the highest in unemployment in the New Orleans metropolitan area. In the New Orleans metro area, including the River Parishes with Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes, the average jobless rate stayed at 4.2 percent. The lowest jobless rate in the region during May 2001 was 3.6 percent in Plaquemines Parish, closely followed by St. Tammany Parish’s 3.8 percent. The lowest jobless rate in Louisiana for May was marked in Terrebonne Parish, which enjoyed a 2.9 percent mark. East Carroll Parish continued to mark the highest unemployment rate in the state, with 16.3 percent. The statewide seasonally-adjusted rate for May 2001 was 5.6 percent, Forster said, slightly from the 5.5 percent rate during the previous month.