Downward Oklahoma Job Revisions

I haven’t seen much discussion about the downward revisions to Oklahoma job data released earlier this month. We knew some weakness was coming, but the size of it was a surprise. The March CES benchmark revisions for Dec 2025 weighed on most states but hit Oklahoma harder than expected – down 21,700 jobs (-1.2%), nearly double the national revision of -0.7%.

A few things that stood out: the revision was heavily concentrated in private services (-1.8%), while goods-producing jobs held up far better (-0.6%). Metro areas took the biggest hits – OKC and Tulsa together accounted for most of the statewide drop. This suggests that rural Oklahoma may have been a bit more resilient. Government employment was actually revised up slightly.

We posted a detailed spreadsheet of the revisions for the state and metro areas.