Oklahoma was one of nine states that saw an increase in its unemployment rate in July compared to the prior month, according to a government report.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that the state’s unemployment rate in July increased to 7.1%, a 0.7% increase from June’s rate, according to seasonally adjusted data.
The state’s 7.1% July jobless rate ranked it tied with two other states for No. 11 among states with the lowest rates. Oklahoma’s July unemployment rate is 3.8% higher than it was a year ago.
Oklahoma’s June unemployment rate of 6.4% ranked as the fifth lowest at the time.
“Though our state’s unemployment rate rose slightly in July, we remain encouraged about the progress Oklahoma businesses continue to make throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” Shelley Zumwalt, interim executive director of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, said in a news release.
“I’m proud of the work our state leadership has done in order to keep Oklahoma moving forward. We kept our spot as the 11th state with the lowest unemployment rate across the U.S. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we remain committed to getting Oklahomans the help they need — and to get them back into our workforce safely.”
Utah reported the lowest unemployment rate among states, 4.5%, for July.
Massachusetts continued to have the highest unemployment rate despite a decline from 17.7% to 16.1%.
Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged from June to July.
The number of people employed in Oklahoma declined to 1,612,400 by 90,200 from a year ago, when 1.7 million Oklahomans were at work.
The trade, transportation and utility sectors together saw the largest month-to-month decline in employees on payrolls, with the number of workers down by 3,800 to 291,000 in July, according to seasonally adjusted data.
The leisure and hospitality industry sector reported the second largest decline in workers with 163,500 employed in July, down 1,900 from the prior month.
The manufacturing and professional and business services sectors both reported declines of 1,200 employees from June to July.
The government employment sector saw the largest expansion in payroll from June to July.
The number in the government sector on July payrolls increased by 5,600 to 345,700 compared to the prior month.