Economy continues to mend, latest data shows
The latest data from state and federal jobs agencies shows Oklahoma’s employment situation continues to improve.
On Wednesday, preliminary unemployment percentages for September in the Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Lawton and Enid areas were slightly lower than the numbers were the previous month.
And, with only one exception, they also showed more marked gains in a comparison between September 2017 and the same month a year ago.
The unemployment percentage was down about a half percentage point in Enid, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Lawton’s fell one-tenth of a percent.
“All of our metropolitan statistical area rates fell, year over year,” said Lynn Gray, the director of economic research and analysis at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.
“And that held true for our nonmetropolitan areas, as well,” Gray said.
“It is a positive report. You’ve got those improving unemployment rates, and we’ve got jobs growth in both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan statistical areas,” he said.
The preliminary unemployment percentage in September for the Oklahoma City area, which includes Canadian, Cleveland, Grady, Lincoln, Logan, McClain and Oklahoma counties, was 3.9 percent, compared to 4.3 percent in August and 4.3 percent a year earlier.
The preliminary unemployment percentage in September for the Tulsa area, which includes Creek, Okmulgee, Osage, Pawnee, Rogers, Tulsa and Wagoner counties, was 4.6 percent, compared to 5 percent in August and 5.1 percent a year earlier.
The preliminary unemployment percentage in September for the Lawton area, which includes Comanche and Cotton
counties, was 4.7 percent, compared to 5 percent in August and 4.8 percent a year earlier.
And the preliminary unemployment percentage in September for the Enid area, which includes Garfield County, was 3.7 percent, compared to 3.9 percent in August and 4.3 percent a year earlier.
Gray said he saw similar improvements when comparing September 2017 to September 2016 percentages across nearly all of the state, looking at county-by-county data.
When looking at the numbers of payroll jobs in the state, Gray said he also saw year-overyear improvement, particularly when looking at numbers of jobs added by the state’s Professional and Business Services category of the economy.
Some of those jobs were added by companies that provide professional, scientific and technical services, while others were added by companies that provide business support services, such as Oklahoma City-based Paycom Software Inc. and others.
Overall, Gray said the state made a modest 1.1 percent gain in jobs growth the past year, conforming to average jobs growth the state has seen during the past decade.
“This is more evidence that 2017 continues to be quite different from the two previous calendar years,” he said. “We are growing. We are adding jobs.”