Seminole County’s jobless rate dropped by more than one percent in May from the previous year, according to the latest report from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC).

The OESC’s May report, which was released earlier this month, shows Seminole County with an unemployment rate of 4.2%, down 1.2% from May 2024 when the rate was 5.4%. According to the report, Seminole County had an available workforce of 9,276 in May but only 8,884 were listed as employed.

May’s drop in joblessness caused Seminole County’s statewide ranking to improve. In the April report, the county was ranked #74 for unemployment. On the latest report, Seminole County is ranked #72. The lower this number is, the better. The county with the highest rate of unemployment is #77, the county with the lowest unemployment is #1.

Below is how neighboring counties fared on the May report.

Hughes County reported unemployment dropped from 5.3% in May 2024 to 4.2% percent in the latest report.

In Pottawatomie County, unemployment numbers dropped from 3.6% to 3.3%.

Okfuskee County saw its rate drop from 4.4% to 3.5%.

Pontotoc County, which usually has one of the lower rankings in the surrounding area, saw unemployment drop from 3.1 to 2.6%.

In May, Love County posted Oklahoma’s highest county unemployment rate of 4.5 percent. Pushmataha County reported the second highest rate for the month. Texas County reported the lowest county unemployment rate of 1.7 percent in May. Unemployment rates in May were lower than a year earlier in 65 counties, higher in eight counties, and unchanged in four counties.