Oklahoma’s jobless numbers grew in February

For a second consecutive month, unemployment rose in February in Oklahoma according to a state agency.

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported the jobless rate rose 0.1 percent from January to reach 3.3 percent for February. However, the latest unemployment rate is still better than the 3.8 percent reported in February of 2018.

The state’s labor force also dropped by 1,782 last month which was a reduction of 0.1 percent.  In the past year, Oklahoma has lost 13,318 jobs in the labor force which represents a decline of 0.7 percent

The state’s Mining and Logging sector which includes oil and gas reported 54,900 jobs in February, up by 200 from January and still 3,300 more than in February 2018.

But when construction is added to the Mining and Logging, the workforce of the three lost 700 jobs from January to February of 2019, representing a job loss of 0.5 percent.

While some sectors lost workers from January to February, the government sector in the state remained the same at 347,500.