The Tulsa area jobless rate surged to 8.2% in January 2010 according to data released last Friday by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. That is the highest rate recorded by the Tulsa metro area since at least 1990, which is as far back as revised data goes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Tulsa County’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.8 percent in January, up from 6.8 percent in December. In January 2009, the rate was 5.6 percent.
The Tulsa area’s rate was higher than the state’s other two metro areas, including Lawton and Oklahoma City, which had a 6.7 percent rate in January.
“Tulsa is more heavily engaged in manufacturing [while] Oklahoma City has more of the energy sector” said Steve Agee, economics professor at Oklahoma City University and chairman of the Oklahoma City branch board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. “I think what you’re seeing is a little bit more stability with respect to energy and a little less stability with respect to manufacturing.”
Bob Ball, economic research manager for the Tulsa Metro Chamber, said he believes the economy has bottomed, but employers remain cautious about hiring. He thinks it’s possible Tulsa’s jobless rate could go higher.
“In some cases, employers have held off as long as they can on layoffs, and now are finally having to let people go as a matter of survival because the economy is not turning as fast as they had hoped. Oklahoma City and Lawton have large government- related, service-industry-based economies, which also can help explain the difference in their jobless rates and Tulsa’s. They’re less likely to see a dramatic fluctuation in their jobless rates than an entrepreneurial area such as Tulsa where private-sector businesses take risks daily” Ball said.
Source: Tulsa World.
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