New unemployment rates released by the government show an interesting twist in some of the nation’s major oil and gas producing states.
Oklahoma is one of 10 states where jobless rates fell to record lows while New Mexico, home to part of the Permian Basin, had a rate higher than the national rate of 4%.
Oklahoma’s 2.7% rate for January compared to Nebraska and Utah, states with the lowest unemployment of 2.2% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Oklahoma was joined by Indiana, Kansas, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Montana and West Virginia as the ten states with jobless rates falling to their lowest levels dating back to 1976.
New Mexico, a state with the second highest oil production in the U.S. was among 26 states with some of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
