OKLAHOMA CITY – The job market remains durable.
Nationwide, employers have added an average of 244,000 jobs per month over the past year, including 333,000 in December and 353,000 in January. The U.S. Labor Department’s February jobs numbers issued last Friday showed nonfarm payroll employment grew by 275,000 last month.
Nevertheless, the number of Oklahomans applying for jobless benefits remains at a relatively low level.
First-time claims filed for unemployment benefits in Oklahoma during the week that ended March 2 totaled 1,150, an increase of four from the week of Feb. 24, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.
Continuing claims filed in Oklahoma during the week ending Feb. 24 totaled 9,525, which was 1,079 fewer than the week before, according to the Department of Labor.
The most recent statistics available indicate the unemployment rate in Oklahoma is 3.4%. In comparison, the national rate inched upward to 3.9% after holding steady at 3.7% for three consecutive months. “This still continues a two-year trend of a jobless rate under 4%, the longest stretch in more than 50 years,” said Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su.
The Labor Department said last week that U.S. employers posted 8.86 million job vacancies in January, slightly fewer than the 8.89 million posted in December.
Despite a wave of high-profile layoffs, the number of job cuts across the U.S. economy remains relatively low.
Job openings have declined since peaking at a record 12 million in March 2022 as the economy roared back from COVID-19 lockdowns, the Associated Press reported. Nevertheless, they remain at historically high levels: Before 2021, monthly job openings had never topped 8 million, the AP found.
The U.S. economy has proven resilient despite higher interest rates, the AP noted. To combat resurgent inflation, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023, bringing it to the highest level in more than two decades.
The nation’s central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate between 5.25% and 5.5% since last July.
Higher borrowing costs have helped bring inflation down. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that interest rate cuts may be coming this year but the Fed needs more data that show inflation is cooling before it will act.