Unemployment rate falls slightly in Oklahoma City metro

The unemployment rate fell slightly in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in December and remained unchanged in the Tulsa and Lawton metro areas, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission said Wednesday.

The Oklahoma City area jobless rate, which wasn’t adjusted for seasonal differences, was 4 percent in December, down from 4.1 percent in November. The unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in December 2015.

Tulsa area unemployment was 4.8 percent in December, while Lawton’s rate was 4.4 percent. Both were unchanged from November, the commission said.

Unemployment rates were higher than a year ago in 64 of the state’s 77 counties. They were lower in seven counties and unchanged in six counties. McIntosh County had the highest unemployment rate at 9.2 percent, while Cimarron County recorded the lowest at 1.9 percent.

“It’s been a rough year in terms of unemployment; for most of the counties, they’ve gone up,” said Lynn Gray, the commission’s director of economic research and analysis. “We’ve got higher rates in the southeast, which is pretty typical. In the southwest, Stephens County has been hit hard, but it looks like it’s declining.”

Led by job losses in the mining sector, the unemployment rate

in Stephens County was 8.8 percent in December, an improvement over the 9.7 percent rate in October. The jobless rate in that county was 6.7 percent in December 2015.

Gray said initial claims for unemployment have been slowing down statewide and could point to some recovery in the state's job market. Another good sign was some expansion in the information sector, he said.

Meanwhile, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said unemployment rates were lower in December than a year earlier in 236 of the nation's 387 metro areas. The jobless rates were higher in 111 areas and unchanged in 40 areas.

The national, non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in December was 4.5 percent, down from 4.8 percent a year earlier, the bureau said.

Oklahoma City and Lawton metros were both lower than the national average in December, while Tulsa's unemployment was higher, the bureau said.