{"id":5592,"date":"2014-08-31T21:15:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T03:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.regiontrack.com\/www\/?p=5592"},"modified":"2014-08-31T21:15:12","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T03:15:12","slug":"pic-of-the-week-county-jobless-rates-show-strengthening-oklahoma-economy-09012014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regiontrack.com\/www\/pic-of-the-week-county-jobless-rates-show-strengthening-oklahoma-economy-09012014\/","title":{"rendered":"Pic-of-the-Week: County Jobless Rates Show Strengthening Oklahoma Economy (09\/01\/2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEARLY ALL OKLAHOMA COUNTIES HAVE DECLINING UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THE PAST YEAR<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0There are a number of ways to gauge the underlying strength of a state economy. \u00c2\u00a0One useful way is to measure the cumulative health of the\u00c2\u00a0individual counties. We often do this using\u00c2\u00a0a simple form of diffusion index which is\u00c2\u00a0simply the sum of counties with a declining unemployment rate the past 12 months.\u00c2\u00a0For Oklahoma the indicator has returned to very positive territory. After sluggishness in the state economy in 2013,\u00c2\u00a0the state has bounced back in 2014 with the jobless rate in a distinct downtrend\u00c2\u00a0in nearly\u00c2\u00a0every county.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The latest measure for July shows 72 of 77\u00c2\u00a0counties with\u00c2\u00a0a declining jobless rate. This is an extremely high share of counties and happens only rarely. In fact, in April 2014, all 77 counties had a declining rate, only the second time this has happened (Feb.\/Apr.\u00c2\u00a02008) since 1990. The index came close to the peak in\u00c2\u00a0May and June of 2014, with 76 counties posting\u00c2\u00a0a declining rate.\"potw_1_20140901\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is indicative of strengthening conditions in the state and one of the reasons why our outlook for the state in 2015 continues to strengthen.<\/p>\n

Sign up<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to receive RegionTrack’s PIC OF THE WEEK!
\n[email_link]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEARLY ALL OKLAHOMA COUNTIES HAVE DECLINING UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THE PAST YEAR. \u00c2\u00a0There are a number of ways to gauge the underlying strength of a state economy. \u00c2\u00a0One useful way is to measure the cumulative health of the\u00c2\u00a0individual counties. We often do this using\u00c2\u00a0a simple form of diffusion index which is\u00c2\u00a0simply the sum of counties with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-5592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pic-of-the-week","category-uncategorized","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t