Oklahoma Employment Security Commission

Labor Market Statistics - The Recession

Hires v. Separations Private and Government Sector

Data Provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' JOLTS program: http://www.bls.gov/jlt/

Oklahoma Specific Resources

Oklahoma's Unemployment Rate Compared to the U.S.'s During Recessions: For each of the last four recessions we looked at the period beginning twelve months before the official peak month and ended twelve months after the official trough month as decided by the NBER. We also have included graphs showing how the state’s unemployment rate has compared to the national rate over the entire time frame of the current series (1976-2007). In addition there is a graph comparing the spread between the state and national rates during the past four recessions.

Initial and Continued Unemployment Insurance Claims: A variety of charts detailing initial and continued unemployment insurance claims for a variety of time frames.

National Resources

The Recession in Perspective: The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: This site offers comparisons of the length and depth of the current recession to past recessions. Additionally, an interactive map is provided that allows for a comparison of change in employment between the current recession and past recessions.

Tracking the Recession: The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: This site offers tracking and comparisons of GDP and the four main monthly economic indicators used by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The four indicators are: Industrial Production, Real Income, Employment, and Real Retail Sales. Additionally this site provides links to more resources as well as articles concerning the recession.

Job Loss and Unemployment Insurance Claims at Historic Highs and Rising: This is a special report by Dr. Richard A. Hobbie and Benjamin B. Fendler of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA). This report focuses primarily on comparing this recession to the 1981-1982 recession.