State unemployment holds steady at 4.3 percent

Oklahoma’s unemployment rate remains stable.

Figures released Friday by the U.S. Labor Department estimate the preliminary state unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in May.

That holds Oklahoma’s rate steady for a third consecutive month, as the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment percentages for April and March also were 4.3 percent.

The national unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, was little changed from April but was down 0.4 of a percentage point from May 2016, the labor department reported.

“We gained employment . ... That’s one of the good stories of the month,” Lynn Gray, the director of economic research and analysis at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, said Friday.

“But, there’s just not a lot of change out there right now.”

Gray said the estimated number of unemployed Oklahomans climbed slightly in May, but not by enough to change the unemployment rate.

Meanwhile, he said, the monthly survey conducted with area employers shows Oklahoma’s economy added 600 jobs in its mining sector (which includes oil and gas jobs), construction and manufacturing sectors.

Gray said the professional and business services sector added 1,000 jobs, with most of those created by legal, accounting, architectural and engineering firms.

The state’s heath care and social assistance sector grew by 1,400, with many of those jobs created by ambulatory health care services firms.

Finally, Oklahoma’s leisure and hospitality sector added 1,700 jobs in May, he said.

One sector of the state’s economy that continued to shed jobs, he said, is the retail sector.

It lost 2,500 jobs in May, and is down 7,200 jobs over the past year, Gray said.