While new jobless figures for Oklahoma show the December 2019 jobless rate stayed at 3.4% from November, the numbers in the oil and gas industry were showing dismal signs of the energy slowdown.
The state’s jobless rate compared to 3.5% for the U.S. and showed 62,990 out of Oklahoma’s workforce of 1,846,283 were out of work.
But in the oil patch, things were worse. The December 2019 employment in the Mining and Logging Sector where oil and gas are figured, showed 48,100 had jobs. But the number was down 1,700 or 3.4% from November 2019 when 49,800 were working in the industry.
However, the drop from a year ago was far greater—a loss of 6,700 jobs. In December 2018, the oil and gas industry employed 54,800 workers. A year later, the number plunged 12.2%.
