The latest Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s (OESC) monthly employment report for April, which contains the preliminary statistics for March 2025, shows that in March Seminole County had the fourth highest rate of unemployment in the state after starting the year with the sixth highest and then dropping to fifth in last month’s report for February.

The latest report states that, across the state, unemployment rates in March were lower than a year earlier in 44 counties, higher in 19 counties, and unchanged in 14 counties.

In the report for March, Pushmataha County once again held Oklahoma’s highest county unemployment rate, which it has held since January. The good news is that the low rate has improved to 5.2 percent from the of 5.7 percent that was reported for the previous two months. Love County continued to report the second highest rate for the month, which it has also held since the first of the year.

Texas County reported the lowest county unemployment rate in the state. This is a position it has also held since the first of the year. This month the lowest rate was 1.7 percent, an improvement over the low rate of 2.1 percent last month.

According to the latest figures from the OESC, the labor force in SEMINOLE COUNTY rose from 9,303 in February to 9,401 in March. The number of employed rose from 8,813 in February to 8,968 in March. The number of unemployed dropped from 490 to 433.

These changes significantly lowered the county’s unemployment rate from 5.3 percent to 4.6 percent. This month’s rate was also lower than the 5.2 percent unemployment that was reported for March 2024. Even though Seminole County’s unemployment dropped significantly, similar changes across the state caused its ranking among the 77 counties in Oklahoma to rise from 73 to 74, or fourth highest, which is a setback. 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 5.2 percent last month to 4.5 percent in the latest report. Last year their unemployment rate was 4.9 percent. This change placed Hughes County in the 73rd position Seminole had last month.

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY unemployment numbers dropped from 4.0 to 3.5 percent. This improvement moved them from the 50th spot to the 49th. Their unemployment rate was 3.5 percent last year.

OKFUSKEE COUNTY’S ranking jumped from the 67th to the 56th position after their unemployment rate dropped from 4.5 to 3.6 percent. Okfuskee County reported a 4.6 percent unemployment rate last year.

PONTOTOC COUNTY, which usually has one of the lower rankings in the surrounding area, saw unemployment drop from 3.2 to 2.7 percent. Their unemployment rate was 3.1 percent last year. This improvement didn’t prevent Pontotoc County’s state ranking to rise from 17th to 19th.

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 9,742, which was updated to 9,678 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.