Unemployment in Seminole County increased over both the previous month and year in January, according to the latest report from the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC).

The report, released April 9, shows that Seminole County posted a jobless rate of 5.9 percent in January, up half a percentage point over December’s rate of 5.4 percent and nearly one percent over January 2025 when the rate was 4.7 percent.

Per the report, Seminole County had an available work force of 9,267 in January, but only 8,717 were listed as employed. Seminole County recorded the state’s seventh highest jobless rate in January.

Neighboring Hughes County saw its rate increase from 5.7 percent in December to 6.3 percent in January. This was also an increase over the year, as the county posted a rate of 4.8 percent in January 2025.

Lincoln County’s January rate of 4.5 percent was up half percent from December and a full percentage point from the previous year.

In Pottawatomie County, January’s rate of 4.7 percent was up over both the month and year. In December the rate was 4.2 percent and in January 2025, it was 3.7 percent.

Pontotoc County posted a rate of 3.9 percent in January, up sixtenths of one percent over December’s rate of 3.3 percent and up a full point over January 2025.

In January, Love County posted Oklahoma’s highest county unemployment rate of 7.0 percent. McIntosh County reported the second-highest rate for the month. Texas County reported the lowest unemployment rate of 2.6 percent in January. Unemployment rates in January were higher than a year earlier in 76 out of 77 of Oklahoma’s counties and unchanged in one county.