Oklahoma’s oil patch employment dropped in November

Crude oil prices haven’t been the only thing dropping in Oklahoma’s energy industry in the past several weeks. So has employment in the oil patch.

The November employment report from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission indicated the state’s unemployment rate improved slightly from 3.4% in October 2018 to 3.3% for November.

It showed total employment at 1,796,553 while the number of those out of work in the state was 60,360. In the Mining and Logging sector which includes the oil and gas industry, employment fell by 500 jobs from October to November.

There were 55,600 employed in the sector in October but the number dropped to 55,100 by November. In November 2017, the number of oil and gas workers totaled 49,900.

The October to November drop was 0.9% while the November 2017 to November 2018 increase in employment was 10.4%.

The state’s transportation sector saw an increase of 900 employees, going from 68,200 in October 2018 to 69,100 in November. That’s an increase of 1.3%.

Transportation saw an improvement of 700 jobs from November 2017 to November 2018 or 1%.