The newest unemployment numbers are out for the Tulsa metro area. The jobless rate has declined slightly to 4.3%, but is still higher than last year at this time, and jobs have been lost since the first of the year. Most of it is due to the slump in the oil industry, according to Monty Evans with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. What’s the future hold? Evans says much of it depends on commodity prices, but the news is a little better in recent days.
The price of a barrel of oil has been creeping up recently, reaching nearly $50 a barrel from a low of under $30 earlier this year.