Another slight dip in Oklahoma’s unemployment rate has been reported by the state, showing the November rate dropped to 4.2 percent. All the while, the number of jobs in oil and gas in the state grew by 900 from October to November.
The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point while the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent for the month.
Oil and gas employment is in the Mining and Logging sector followed by the State government. It showed 46,800 were employed in October 2017 but the number grew to 47,700 by November. That’s an increase of 900 workers or 1.9 percent.
The growth from November of 2016 was even more dramatic climbing from 42,400 reported a year ago. The increase of 5,300 translated into 12.5 percent.
The number of employed in the state’s transportation sector also rose but not as dramatically. The sector had 64,000 in November of 2016, 64,200 in October of 2017 and 64,500 in November of this year.
The year to year gain was 500 or 0.8 percent.
Oklahoma’s construction industry saw employment increase from 76,800 in November 2016 to 83,200 in October 2017 but dropped last month to 81,800. The year-to-year increase was 5,000 workers or 6.5 percent. But the drop from October to November was 1,400 workers or 1.7 percent with the approach of winter and a slow down in construction activity.