Energy Employment Losses Boost State’s Jobless Rate

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As Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry added more workers to the list of the unemployed in August, it also resulted in a slight increase in the state’s overall unemployment rate, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.

The Commission’s latest report shows the state’s jobless rate stands at 5.1 percent, up 0.1 of a percent from July to August. It means 92,200 Oklahomans are out of work from the labor force of 1,821,239. That’s a slight increase from July when 91,496 were out of work in the state.

Oklahoma’s rate is higher than the national jobless rate of 4.9 percent. As for the energy sector, it lost another 200 jobs from July to August or 0.5% more. As of August, the Mining and Logging part of the unemployment report listed 43,200 employed, down from the 43,000 in July. Compared to a year ago, the number of employees in Mining and Logging was down from 52,300, or a drop of 17.4 percent. That’s a loss of 9,100 jobs in the sector.