The metrics on the state economy, what’s changing in the job landscape, and how Oklahoma stacks up.
Oklahoma’s rate of unemployment increased slightly in July — to 4.9 percent — the first increase in nearly a year. The 0.2 increase from June is the rate’s first rise since August 2011, but Oklahoma’s unemployment remains well below the national rate of 8.3 percent. State employment officials and economists say Oklahoma’s economy is still [...]
Historically low natural gas prices have dragged down revenues from gross production taxes, alarming state budget officials. But prices weren’t low enough long enough to trigger a 3 percent reduction in the tax rate. Oklahoma-produced gas sold for an average of $2.92 per thousand cubic feet in March and April. State Treasurer Ken Miller says [...]
Nationwide, 5.5 percent of adults have used a payday loan in the last five years, according to a new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. But the rate among Oklahomans is more than twice that, 13 percent — the highest in the United States.
Positive economic signs are coming from Tulsa’s Port of Catoosa, an important shipping hub that connects Oklahoma to the Mississippi River via an inland waterway. Combined employment from businesses there has increased 68 percent since the worst of the recession three years ago, the Journal Record‘s D. Ray Tuttle reports: Companies in the energy and [...]
The Oklahoma City Thunder made a huge impact on its hometown, but measuring the exact value of being an NBA Finals contender is hard. What price do you put on city exposure? What’s a good metric for an improved impression? How much is spreading the notion that cool-things-actually-happen-in-Oklahoma worth? It might be impossible to put a [...]
Fiscal year 2012 has ended, and Oklahoma finished “well into the black,” State Treasurer Ken Miller said in a statement with his monthly revenue report. Revenue wise, things look good. Total revenue collections are up more than 7 percent from FY 2011, which means the state collected about $782 million more than it did last [...]
Oklahoma labor unions are smaller but have remained active in the 12 years since voters signed off on right to work legislation, reports The Journal Record‘s M. Scott Carter. But state and national political trends could foretell trouble. “The problem is the tea party and the extremists. They are trying to pick us off one [...]
Broken Arrow, Bixby and Owasso are the Tulsa metro’s fastest-growing suburbs. Fast growth has been fueled by jobs, good schools and nice homes in a stable housing market. The population has boomed, but so too has poverty, the Tulsa World reports. The Bixby Community Outreach Center, which provides food, clothing and financial help, has seen [...]
State energy regulators across the country are having a hard time keeping up with the booming natural gas industry. The surge is complicated by cash-strapped state budgets and increasing calls for drilling and fracking oversight, and state agencies in several states are struggling to keep up with well inspections, reports Stateline’s Jim Malewitz. In some [...]
Shamrock was founded on the fortunes of Oklahoma’s first oil boom. When the oil dried up, the town’s luck followed. A population that “fluctuated” between 10,000 and 15,000 had dwindled to 1,400 by 1920, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. About 100 people lived in Shamrock in 2010, Census data show. That summer, the board [...]
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