As Oklahoma’s oil and gas sector added jobs in the past few months, it helped the state trim the jobless rate for January from 4.8% to 4.7% according to figures released by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.
It still leaves 85,324 Oklahomans out of work. But employment grew by an estimated 6,700 jobs to reach 1,742,196.
The new jobless rate, according to Lynn Gray, Economist at the Commission compares to a national jobless rate of 4.8%
It was just last summer and fall when Oklahoma experienced an unemployment rate of 5%
Gray told OK Energy Today that oil and gas added at least 700 new jobs in January. Oil and Gas are in the Mining Sector of the employment categories figured by the state. The 700 additional jobs represented a growth of 1.7% in the Mining Sector. However, oil and gas remain down from the 47,200 employed in January 2016. In January 2017, the Mining Sector reflected employment of 42,200 or a drop of not quite 11%.
Listen to Lynn Gray’s explanation with Jerry Bohnen of OK Energy Today.