Latest State, U.S. Economy Figures Encouraging

More jobs than expected were added in November, leading to a solid drop in the unemployment rate.

The U.S. Labor Department has reported that employers added 120,000 jobs in November. This dropped the unemployment rate to 8.6 percent -- much more than economists expected.

Jobs also grew more than originally predicted from September and October.

Since the financial crisis, less than third of the 8.8 million jobs lost have been recovered, leaving 13.3 million people unemployed.

Oklahoma's economy is also doing well. The state's gross revenue collections are 13.2 two percent higher for this November than last year.

That pushes Oklahoma's 12-month totals to their highest level in more than two years.