OKLAHOMA CITY – Unemployment statewide ticked up slightly in October, even though the number of Oklahomans with jobs increased, according to research performed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The civilian labor force in the Sooner State grew by 11,800 between October last year and October this year, to 1,856,561, the BLS reported.
Nevertheless, the state’s jobless rate inched up from 3.1% in October 2018 to 3.3% in October 2019: from 56,342 unemployed workers in Octo- ber ’18 to 61,510 in October ’19.
During that 12-month period, the Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) gained 9,600 jobs – 400 of those were in the Lawton MSA – but the number of new jobs added in the state as a whole during that same time- frame was 4,400. That means jobs were lost outside those three metro areas.
The unemployment rate in the Lawton MSA was 3.6% in September and again in October 2019, compared to 3.7% in October 2018.
The BLS pegged the civilian labor force in the Lawton MSA in October at 51,361, a loss of 82 jobs from September but an overall increase of 337 during the preceding 12 months. The number of unemployed workers in the Lawton area was logged at 1,847 in October 2019, 50 fewer than during the same month last year, according to BLS ledgers.
A separate survey of employers, called an “establishment” survey, counted 45,600 employees on non-arm payrolls in the Lawton MSA in October ’19, an increase of 100 from September ’19 and 400 more than in October ’18. Total non-farm employment in Oklahoma in October was a little over 1.7 million; 1.125 million of those jobs were in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas.