View Full Version : OKC unemployment now at 4%



adaniel
05-31-2012, 10:54 AM
Great news. OKC is basically at full employment, depending on how you define that. Tulsa isn't doing shabby, either.

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-again-posts-lowest-jobless-rate-among-large-u.s.-cities/article/3679998?custom_click=pod_headline_business

Also, here is the link to the BLS release.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t03.htm

OKC and Tulsa have averaged 2.2 and 2.6 percent annual job growth over the past year, respectively

More important than that, the workforce size in both cities has grown considerably, by about 13K in OKC and 11K in Tulsa over the past year. Especially good news considering the US workforce is contracting.

Larry OKC
05-31-2012, 12:17 PM
yet the want ads are pretty sparse...

ThomPaine
05-31-2012, 09:21 PM
Awesome! I am sending invitations to all my out of state friends and relatives (well the "normal" ones, anyway).

Midtowner
06-06-2012, 11:11 AM
I'm not sure what OKC's rate of minimum wage employment is, but as a state, we are 5th in the nation according to the BLS. If we're really at full employment as suggested, that number shouldn't be so high.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011tbls.htm#2

Snowman
06-06-2012, 05:53 PM
I'm not sure what OKC's rate of minimum wage employment is, but as a state, we are 5th in the nation according to the BLS. If we're really at full employment as suggested, that number shouldn't be so high.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011tbls.htm#2

Outside of teenagers and college students most people are not at minimum wage.

Jersey Boss
06-06-2012, 06:01 PM
Outside of teenagers and college students most people are not at minimum wage.

Seems to this reader that the link MT provided shows OK at a higher percentage of the labor force at min. wage than most other states. I doubt that OK has a much higher % of teenagers or college students than the states that are not so wage miserly. What numbers or cite do you have that shows otherwise?

okcpulse
06-06-2012, 06:19 PM
Unemployment rate concerns OKC, not the state as whole. Discussing the state as a whole includes lumping the relatively poor southeast region of Oklahoma, or Little Dixie as it is known.

Bunty
06-06-2012, 06:53 PM
Awesome! I am sending invitations to all my out of state friends and relatives (well the "normal" ones, anyway).

Even they may say,"Who wants to move to Oklahoma City?" And so helps explain the low unemployment rate. I hope the people in the declining, impoverished small towns of Oklahoma don't have that attitude, though.

bchris02
06-06-2012, 11:17 PM
Even they may say,"Who wants to move to Oklahoma City?" And so helps explain the low unemployment rate. I hope the people in the declining, impoverished small towns of Oklahoma don't have that attitude, though.

I am moving to Oklahoma City from Charlotte in the fall for this reason. I graduated college in 2008, moved to Charlotte in 2009 for personal reasons but have been unable to find employment in my field. It doesn't help Charlotte has been consistently ranked among the worst places to find a job in the country since the recession began. Its amazing how many people here think that OKC is nothing but a bunch of cow pastures. Somebody actually asked me when I mentioned it "do they even have Internet there?" Having lived in Charlotte though I see the negative perception as a blessing in disguise for OKC. To have the kind of explosive growth Charlotte had in the 2000s without an economy of substance to back it up has been this city's undoing. Slow and steady growth with a diverse economy is more sustainable and puts a city in a better position to weather a recession.

Larry OKC
06-07-2012, 08:42 AM
bchris02: what field are you in? Do you already have a job lined up? Unless you are in Health or Energy sectors, that want ads are rather thin (no matter what our unemployment rate is). I am in the Printing/Graphic Design field and was laid off last year. Have close to 20 years of experience and was out of work for 4 months. Some weeks it was a challenge to even come up with the 2 contacts/week to maintain unemployment.

bchris02
06-07-2012, 09:53 AM
bchris02: what field are you in? Do you already have a job lined up? Unless you are in Health or Energy sectors, that want ads are rather thin (no matter what our unemployment rate is). I am in the Printing/Graphic Design field and was laid off last year. Have close to 20 years of experience and was out of work for 4 months. Some weeks it was a challenge to even come up with the 2 contacts/week to maintain unemployment.

My degree is in IT and I worked in the field prior to my move to Charlotte in 2009. I really want to get back into my field of choice but have not had any luck here in Charlotte. I've had numerous interviews but no offers. As for your situation, 4 months out of work really isn't bad. Here in Charlotte many people I know who have been laid off are out of work for 9 months to a year and usually have to end up taking a low paying dead-end service job just to have something. That's what I did and I have become desperate to get out.

adaniel
06-07-2012, 12:39 PM
I am moving to Oklahoma City from Charlotte in the fall for this reason. I graduated college in 2008, moved to Charlotte in 2009 for personal reasons but have been unable to find employment in my field. It doesn't help Charlotte has been consistently ranked among the worst places to find a job in the country since the recession began. Its amazing how many people here think that OKC is nothing but a bunch of cow pastures. Somebody actually asked me when I mentioned it "do they even have Internet there?" Having lived in Charlotte though I see the negative perception as a blessing in disguise for OKC. To have the kind of explosive growth Charlotte had in the 2000s without an economy of substance to back it up has been this city's undoing. Slow and steady growth with a diverse economy is more sustainable and puts a city in a better position to weather a recession.

This is an interesting observation. I have lots of family not too far from you in Atlanta and they describe the same phenomenon. Lots of people, especially from the Northeast and Midwest, are continuing to flood in to that area even though unemployment is a hair below 10%. Lots are armed with cashed out home equity, but few have any prospects for jobs. Its also pretty similar in FL. I guess being warm and unemployed is better than being cold with a job lol.

You can also see the same effect in TX as well. Dallas and Houston actually have a stronger rate of job growth than OKC yet their UE number has been higher because so many jobless are washing up in the state.

Its a good thing we are a bit of a secret. Now than UE is low but population growth is reasonable, it will hopefully start putting some upward pressure on salaries, which are still a bit low in these parts.

As for IT, I think you will have some luck in securing something, provided your resume is good. Stick with the main industries in these parts (energy, aerospace, health care, gov) for the best opportunities. There are definitely jobs where one would be much better seeking work outside OKC, but IT is one of those things that are flexible enough that you can pretty much work in any field.

ljbab728
05-28-2014, 11:09 PM
A significant short term improvement.

Oklahoma City tied for nation's lowest unemployment rate | News OK (http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-tied-for-nations-lowest-unemployment-rate/article/4859295)

Plutonic Panda
05-29-2014, 11:01 AM
wrong thread...

adaniel
05-29-2014, 01:13 PM
A significant short term improvement.

Oklahoma City tied for nation's lowest unemployment rate | News OK (http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-tied-for-nations-lowest-unemployment-rate/article/4859295)

Great news, although I'm interested if the UE rate fell because jobs were added or because the workforce contracted.

Spartan
05-29-2014, 05:33 PM
Yet the state is broke.

trousers
05-29-2014, 07:45 PM
Unemployment rate concerns OKC, not the state as whole. Discussing the state as a whole includes lumping the relatively poor southeast region of Oklahoma, or Little Dixie as it is known.

There are not many jobs in SE OK and you have to drive forever to get to them.

Mel
05-29-2014, 07:53 PM
There are not many jobs in SE OK and you have to drive forever to get to them.

Plenty of jobs in the Big Foot hunting section.

bchris02
05-29-2014, 07:53 PM
There are not many jobs in SE OK and you have to drive forever to get to them.

A lot of SE Oklahoma commutes to Ft Smith or Texarkana for work. My family lives there and its crazy how far people commute out that way.

ChrisHayes
05-30-2014, 04:22 AM
I looked at the data, and the rate fell both because of jobs being added and because of people leaving the workforce.

adaniel
05-30-2014, 07:58 AM
Saw that as well. I don't claim to know how these things work but it looks like most metros see their total workforce numbers decline from March to April. Could be a number of seasonal factors. More importantly the workforce is larger this April than in April 2013.