Unemployment figures in the Oklahoma City area increased in May
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Unemployment figures in the Oklahoma City area increased in May
Despite May increase in unemployment, U.S. Census Bureau positions helped keep Oklahoma City's jobless numbers from looking worse.
The Oklahoma City area unemployment rate crept up to 6.5 percent in May, compared with 5.9 percent in April and 6.1 percent in May 2009, the Oklahoma Employment Securities Commission said.
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While the jobless rate in the Oklahoma City area increased in May, the rise was mitigated by hundreds of temporary jobs that were filled with the U.S. Census Bureau, officials said.
Many sectors lost jobs, including manufacturing and business support services, but the number of federal jobs in the metro area rose by about 900 last month.
Many of those can be attributed to census hiring.
The Oklahoma City census office hired about 1,000 people in the spring, including droves of workers who traveled door to door last month taking census information.
"It does help the economy over this period,” said Sydnee Chattin-Reynolds, deputy regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau.
Applicants were exceptionally qualified, she said, and even included out-of-work professionals with doctoral degrees.
However, census operations are coming to a close and the Oklahoma City office now has only one-quarter of its work force left, she said.
Unemployment elsewhereThe May jobless rate was 6.2 percent in the Lawton area and 7.7 percent in the Tulsa area, both increases from the previous month.John Carpenter, spokesman for the OESC, said Oklahoma cities continue to have lower jobless rates than most metropolitan areas in the nation.
The Washington, D.C., area had the lowest May rate, 6 percent, while the highest at 14.1 percent was in Las Vegas.
The state unemployment rate for May was 6.9 percent.
Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley FordRelated Topics: Business, Economic Indicators, Labor Market, Unemployment Rate, Government and Politics, U.S. Census
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Kevin, Oklahoma City liked this
In Oklahoma City? The story is about Oklahoma City, idiot.Like
Jeff, Norman liked this
No one in my family is unemployed... Of course we all stayed in school and will actually work...Like ReplyReply
This is not a party issue, quit trying to make it one.
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And to all conservatives, please disabuse yourself of your party's propaganda that poor people, minorities and Democrats caused the meltdown. McClatchy newspapers took the facts (link below), which showed that the private sector made more than 80 percent of the risky sub-prime loans. Only 20 percent of these high-profit, high-risk loans were held by Fannie and others.
It's pretty much this simple: I loan Joe $100,000 for a house without making him prove his income. I make him put $5,000 down, so that's cash for me. As he pays me 12 percent interest a month, I earn 3 times what the stock market could. When he defaults, I get the house back and sell it again for $100,000 or more. That worked beautifully for years.
The failure was due to the fact that the private sector (including big players like the now-defunct Washington Mutual) put too many of these bad loans on the market. They did it because they made short-term huge green on these high-profit bad loans. When the defaults piled up to the tipping point, the housing mkt flooded and prices plunged.
P.S. Fannie and Freddie don't make loans to poor people. They buy the loans that the private sector makes to them. Prosecutions are ongoing against the private firms who lied to F and F about the quality of the loans. By prosecuting, the American public will get its money back from the private-sector crooks.
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1 person liked this. Last time I checked, 6.5 percent is a heck of a lot better than then national average of 9.7 percent. Remember here that Democrats are in control in Washington - completely in control.But, let me guess - it is all Bush's fault, right? Well, he certainly deserves some of the blame, but looking at these charts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I would say the Democrats own this baby (notice recession begins after Democrats take control of House and Senate):
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputSer...
They are also in control of California which is bankrupt and has an average unemployment of 12.4 percent and an unemployment of around 18 percent in more liberal cities like LA.
Considering what the Oklahoma Republicans are fighting against with the Democrats I would say they are doing a pretty darn good job.
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No matter how bad the jobless rate gets, there's always the crummy jobs out there, such as dishwashing or janitorial positions, to help you get by until better occupations return when the economy springs back.
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Now--illegal labor has taken many of those positions.Like
The worst of this recession hasn't hit you yet, but it will.
We'll see how "all y'alls" are talking up how wonderful you've been baffled into believing this stinkhole is a bit down the line....
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Terry, Norman liked this
Well, we will have the NBA to ease our minds. Too bad Seattle doesn't have that.Like
Hey Oklahoman, please bring back the ignore feature. Thanks.
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Although this is not great news it is not unexpected. Temporary jobs like wiht the census helped lower the unemployment statistic. It took this country years of bad economic practices and too much leverage to get to this crisis, so we will have these bumps as we try to get to a continued recovery mode. With Las Vegas at 14.1% Oklahoma City citizens could have it worse.
