Most of state shows rate improvement

Unemployment dropped in 75 of 77 counties in November

Preliminary reports from state and federal records indicate unemployment rates improved in November for 75 of 77 Oklahoma counties, and all of the state’s metro locations. Oklahoma City improved in both the one-month, and one-year comparisons.

The jobless rate improved from 3.6 percent in October to 3.3 percent in November.

The improvement was greater when comparing to the year before, when November 2016 reports showed a 4 percent unemployment rate.

Similar marks were found in Tulsa, Lawton and Enid. From October to November, Tulsa improved from 4.4 percent to 3.9 percent, Lawton improved from 4.4 percent to 4.1 percent and Enid improved from 3.4 percent to 3.1 percent. All were improvements from their November 2016 rates.

Lynn Gray, the director of economic research and analysis at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, pointed out Tulsa’s growth as particularly striking.

“Tulsa had a really strong month for employment,” Gray said. “They had been trailing growth in Oklahoma City for some time, but they had a strong month change for November, which is just preliminary, but it’s good to see. We continue to see unemployment rates declining for both Oklahoma City and Tulsa, we are seeing employment increasing and wages are going up.”

Metropolitan areas weren’t the only ones to

show improvement, as 75 of 77 counties improved from October to November 2017.

The lowest rates could be found in Cimarron County, Grant County and Harper County, all with 2 percent unemployment.

The worst rates, by county, in the state belong to McIntosh County (7 percent), Latimer County (6.7 percent) and Okmulgee County (5.7 percent). However, these were all improvements from their October rate.

Payne County and Woods County are the only two counties that didn’t show improvement.

Payne County’s rate showed no change, staying at 3.1 percent in October and November, while Woods County worsened slightly from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent. Despite being the only counties that didn’t improve, both have better rates than the statewide average of 4.2 percent, and Payne County had the fourth-lowest unemployment rate for November.

The national unemployment rate in November, not seasonally adjusted, was 3.9 percent. Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Enid and 44 counties met or exceeded that mark.

Tulsa had a really strong month for employment. They had been trailing growth in Oklahoma City for some time, but they had a strong month change for November.” Lynn Gray, the director of economic research and analysis at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission