The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s (OESC) monthly employment report for March shows that unemployment in Seminole County rose over the past month and was higher than it was last year. This report contains the statistics for January 2023.

The latest report states that, across the state, unemployment rates in January were higher than a year earlier in 38 counties, down in 29 counties and unchanged in 10 counties.

The March report for January shows that Latimer County crowded out McIntosh County for the highest rate of unemployment in the state, 5.9 percent, slightly higher than the 5.8 percent last month and higher than the 5.1 reported last year. Until this report McIntosh County had consistently reported the highest rate for well over two years. McIntosh moved to second highest rate, and Tillman County crowded out Choctaw County for the third highest rate.

Cimarron County once again reported the lowest county unemployment rate in the state, the 18th month in a row it has held this position. The 1.7 percent unemployment reported was considerably higher than the 1.0 percent reported last month. Last year the lowest rate was 1.6 percent.

The SEMINOLE COUNTY labor force rose from 9,237 in December to 9257 in January, according to the OESC report. (The number for the December labor force has been revised from the 8,932 figure that was preliminarily reported last month). The number of employed dropped from 8,905 in December to 8,852 in January. The number of unemployed rose from 332 to 405.

The result of these changes was that unemployment rose from 3.6 percent last month to 4.4 percent this month. This month’s rate was higher compared to the 4.3 percent unemployment Seminole County reported in January 2022. These changes caused Seminole’s unemployed rank- ing among the 77 counties in Oklahoma to rise from 69 to 71. 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 rose from 3.3 percent last month to 3.8 percent in the latest report. Last year their unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. They dropped from the 66th position to the 62nd.

POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY unemployment rose from 3.0 percent to 3.6 percent. This setback didn’t prevent their state ranking from dropping from the 53rd last month to 50th in the latest report. The unemployment rate last year was 3.5 percent.

OKFUSKEE COUNTY’S ranking dropped from 72nd to 67th even though the unemployment rate rose from 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent. This was the same rate of employment as was reported last year.

PONTOTOC COUNTY, which usually has one of the lower rankings in the surrounding area, saw a negative change, jumping from the 17th position to 19th after the unemployment rate rose from 2.2 percent to 2.9 percent. Last year the unemployment rate was 3.0 percent.

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. When this happens, this report will use the revised figure. If the change is significant, the revision will be commented on, as it was this month concerning the labor force in Seminole County in December.