The jobless rate for Seminole County decreased significantly in May as compared to one year ago, when Oklahoma, as well as the rest of the nation, was in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report released last week by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC), Seminole County posted an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent in May, down more than five percentage points from May 2020 when the rate was 9.9 percent. In April, the rate fell from 13.1 percent to 5.3 percent.

The report indicates that Seminole County had an available workforce of 9,226 in May, but only 8,789 of those available were counted as employed.

May Unemployment rates were lower than a year earlier in all of Oklaho ma’s 77 counties. In Hughes County, the rate fell from 9.4 percent to 4.8 percent, Lincoln County’s rate tumbled from 8.6 percent to 3.3 percent and in Pottawatomie County, the rate decreased from 9.3 percent to 3.6 percent.

In May, Latimer County posted Oklahoma’s highest county unemployment rate of 6.7 percent. McIntosh County reported the second-highest rate for the month, followed by Choctaw County. Beaver and Cimarron Counties shared the lowest county unemployment rate of 1.6 percent in May.

Nationwide, there were 27 states with unemployment rates lower than the U.S. rate of 5.8 percent, 12 states and the District of Columbia with higher rates, and 11 states with rates that were not significantly different from that of the nation in May. Hawaii had the highest unemployment rate of 8.1 percent.

After Hawaii, the next highest rates were in New Mexico, 8.0 percent, and California, 7.9 percent. Seven other states (Nevada, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana and Pennsylvania) and the District of Columbia also had unemployment rates that were 6.9 percent or higher.

New Hampshire had the lowest jobless rate, 2.5 percent, closely followed by Nebraska and Vermont, 2.6 percent each. Six other states (Montana, Kansas, Alabama, Idaho, South Dakota, and Utah) had rates below 3.7 percent in May.