As oil and gas revenues continue to tumble in Oklahoma, the state’s economic decline has now lasted 17 months, three months longer than the so-called Great Recession that ran from 2008 to 2010.
State Treasurer Ken Miller says the 12-month collections since Feb. 2015 have fallen by $1.1 billion or 8.8 percent.
He says during the Great Recession, they fell $1.9 billion or 17 percent.
“Though we are still looking for the bottom of the current economic contraction, the news is not all dire,” added Miller. “To date, this downturn has not been as steep as before and unemployment rates have not risen as high.”
In 2010 when the recession peaked, the state’s unemployment was up to 7.1 percent but the most recent jobless numbers for June were only 4.8 percent.
Collections for July indicated gross production taxes on oil and gas were $30.5 million, or a drop of $10.5 million or 25.7 percent from a year ago. Compared to June, the collections rose $5.1 million or 19.9 percent.
Over the past 12-months, oil and gas gross production brought in $356.1 million, a drop of $305.7 million or 46.2 percent.