The latest Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s (OESC) monthly employment report for January contains the preliminary statistics for November 2024.

This report shows that in November Seminole County had the fifth highest rate of unemployment in the state after spending the previous two months in the fourth highest position.

In the report for November, Haskell County once again posted Oklahoma’s highest county unemployment rate of 5.0 percent (down from 5.61 in October). Latimer County had the second highest rate for the month.

Dewey County once again reported the lowest county unemployment rate of 1.5 percent (down from 1.6 percent in October).

The latest report states that, across the state, unemployment rates in November were lower than a year earlier in 65 counties, higher in six counties, and unchanged in six counties.

SEMINOLE COUNTY labor force dropped from 9,582 in October to 9,556 in November, according to the OESC report. The number of employed dropped from 9,159 in October to 9,135 in November. The number of unemployed dropped from 423 to 421.

Despite these changes the Unemployment rate held steady at 4.4 percent. This was much lower than the 5.6 percent unemployment that was reported for November 2023. Although Seminole County’s unemployment stayed steady, its ranking among the 77 counties in Oklahoma dropped from 74 to 73, which is an improvement. 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.

Neighboring HUGHES COUNTY reported unemployment dropped from 3.8 percent last month to 3.7 percent in the latest report. Last year their unemployment rate was 4.6 percent. This small but positive change gave them a huge bump from the 70th position to the 64th in the state.

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY unemployment numbers held steady at 3.1 percent. Unfortunately, improvements in other counties caused them to rise from the 40th spot to the 41st. Their unemployment rate was 3.7 percent last year.

OKFUSKEE COUNTY’S ranking sank from the 61st to the 64th position after their unemployment rate rose from 3.5 to 3.7 percent. Okfuskee County reported a 4.3 percent unemployment rate last year.

PONTOTOC COUNTY, which usually has one of the lower rankings in the surrounding area, was once again 2.5 percent in the preliminary report for November. Their unemployment rate was 3.2 percent last year. Although their unemployment percentage held steady, Pontotoc County’s state rank improved from 16th to 15th.

It should be noted that the statistics in this report are an attempt to provide a snapshot of information and statistics that are constantly changing. The OESC report explains that each month, current employment statistics and local area unemployment statistics data is preliminary and data for the previous month is revised in their reports. For example, last month the preliminary data for September reported a Seminole County labor force of 9,585, which was updated to 9,582 this month. When this happens, this report will use the revised figure. If the change is significant, the revision will be commented on in the story.