Unemployment

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State’s jobless rate improving week to week

Tim Farley

Thursday, October 21, 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY – Most Oklahoma unemployment figures show the state’s jobless rate is improving week to week, according to numbers released by the Oklahoma Employment Securities Commission.

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Oklahoma seeks to recoup unemployment overpayments but doesn’t know how much

News Staff

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Dee Ann Russell mopped sticky floors, stocked shelves and took customers’ money for soda, beer and cigarettes at 7-Eleven for nine years, eventually earning $16.05 an hour. In March 2020, she decided it was no longer worth the risk.

LEDGER PHOTO BY BRYAN M. RICHTER A page from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission website is displayed on a laptop computer.

Unemployment fraud perhaps $500M

Mike W. Ray Staff Writer

Thursday, August 5, 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY – More than $5 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits have been paid out in Oklahoma in the last 17 months – and perhaps half a billion dollars of that was siphoned off by fraud, hacking and identity theft, federal auditors contend.

Unemployment claims continue decline

News Staff

Thursday, March 4, 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) recently reported a decline in continued and initial unemployment claims. The four-week moving average of continuing claims declined for the 35th consecutive week.

Share of Children with Unemployed Parents Reach Historic Highs

Another Effect of COVID-19: Share of Children with Unemployed Parents Reach Historic Highs

News Staff

Thursday, November 12, 2020

In April of this year, 21.7% of children in the United States had at least one parent who was unemployed, and that number was still 11.3% as of August, both historically high rates according to a paper published by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the Columbia School of Social Work.

Unemployment claims in Oklahoma

Initial jobless claims finally tapering off

Mike W. Ray Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

OKLAHOMA CITY – Unemployment claims in Oklahoma have finally registered a significant decline. Initial jobless claims dipped into the four-figure range for the first time in four months, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported.

Con artists target Oklahoma’s unemployment system

Con artists target Oklahoma’s unemployment system, other states

Mike W. Ray Staff Writer

Thursday, May 21, 2020

OKLAHOMA CITY – Federal officials revealed that Oklahoma and at least six other states have been targeted by a group of international fraudsters who have “mounted an immense, sophisticated attack on U.S. unemployment systems,” The New York Times reported Sunday.

Oklahoma Employment Security Commission

Unemployment Numbers

Mike W. Ray Staff Writer

Monday, April 27, 2020

OKLAHOMA CITY – Since the first of April, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission has processed more than 160,000 claims, “which is more than the agency traditionally processes in one full year,” David Ostrowe, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Secretary of Digital Transformation, said Friday.

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