OKLAHOMA CITY – Job growth slowed last month and unemployment in Oklahoma and nationally increased the first week of this month, stoking optimism for an interest rate reduction by the Federal Reserve this summer as fears of an overheated economy wane.
U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 175,000 jobs in April, the U.S. Labor Department reported. That was far less than in March, when gains exceeded 300,000.
In Oklahoma, first-time claims for unemployment benefits filed during the week of May 4 numbered 1,332, an increase of 92 from the week before.
For the filing week that ended April 27, the unadjusted number of continuing claims totaled 9,246, an increase of 105 from the previous week.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that in the week ending May 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims nationwide was 231,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 209,000. The four-week moving average was 215,000, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week’s revised average.
Initial claims averaged roughly 210,000 per week in April, “well-below … the pre-pandemic average of 344,000 per week,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported on May 7.
Although inflation is stubbornly persistent, unemployment has stayed below 4% for more than two years, a streak that hasn’t been matched in decades.
Joblessness in Oklahoma remains below the national average, and the civilian labor force in this state climbed to a record high of nearly two million workers in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the national unemployment rate was reported as 3.9%, the jobless rate in Oklahoma was 3.5% on April 22.
The civilian labor force in Oklahoma in March (the latest month for which statistics have been assembled) numbered 1,989,908 – a 48-year record, BLS records reflected on May 3.
•In Lawton, the unemployment rate in March was recorded at 3.6% and nonfarm employment totaled 43,700.
• In Oklahoma City, the unemployment rate in March was 3.0% and total non-farm employment in the metro area was 709,800.
• The BLS reported that in February the unemployment rate in Grady County was 3.5%; in Tulsa County, 4.0%; in Sequoyah County, 4.6%; and in Le Flore County, 4.9%.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, indicated twice during a May 1 press conference that policymakers believe the interest rate is already “restrictive” enough and that it is “unlikely” the Fed will raise rates again in this cycle.