Oklahoma GDP growth outpaces national rate gains in first quarter

Economic growth in Oklahoma outpaced the nation in the first quarter as the state continues to recover from an energyrelated downturn, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis said Wednesday.

Real gross domestic product grew by 1.9 percent in Oklahoma in the first quarter, while the nation’s GDP grew by 1.2 percent. Texas led the way with a growth rate of 3.9 percent. GDP fell 4 percent in Nebraska in the first three months of the year.

Oklahoma returned to GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 after six consecutive quarters of contractions related to the downturn in commodity prices and its spillover effects on related industries.

However, the state ranked No. 11 for GDP growth in the first quarter of this year, joining 42 other states and the District of Columbia with quarterly growth, the bureau said.

Oklahoma’s GDP was $188.7 billion in the first quarter, up from $180.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter. The state’s firstquarter GDP was 1 percent of the nation’s total GDP of $18.9 trillion.

Among sectors, mining, which includes oil and natural gas extraction, posted the strongest growth in the first quarter in Oklahoma. Mining accounted for 1.64 percentage points of the total growth rate of 1.9 percent in the quarter, the bureau said. That growth was offset by some weakness in agriculture, which contracted by 1.1 percentage points.

Other sectors posting quarterly gains in Oklahoma were construction, real estate and durable goods manufacturing. But retail trade and professional, scientific and technical services contracted for the quarter, the bureau said.

Oklahoma’s unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in June, an improvement from the 5 percent in June 2016. The national unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in June, down from 4.9 percent a year earlier.

Nationally, real estate, mining and durable goods manufacturing led contributions to economic growth in the first quarter, the bureau said. The quarter was weaker than growth in the fourth quarter of 2016, when it was 1.9 percent. Finance and insurance, retail trade and agriculture led the deceleration in real GDP.

Mining grew 21 percent nationally, contributing to growth in 48 states. The sector was the leading contributor to economic growth in the three fastest-growing states: Texas, West Virginia and New Mexico.

Retail trade declined 3.6 percent nationally in the first quarter, dragging down growth in every state. The largest subtractions were in Oklahoma and West Virginia, the bureau said.