Local Job Market Booming

As it often is, Oklahoma is opposite from much of the national trend.  The News On 6's Steve Berg reports this is one time where Tulsa is happy to be the reverse of the national economy and it's a job-seekers market.

Tulsa Chamber economist Bob Ball says the unemployment rate in Tulsa has been a miniscule 4% for several months.

"Regardless of what's happening in the national news, what you hear, Tulsa is really doing quite well," said Ball.

The best places to look for work include a perennial powerhouse in Tulsa, the aerospace sector.

Manufacturing in Oklahoma, unlike most of the nation, is also good.  Ball says virtually any technical trade from engineer to electrician to welder is in demand.

"Many, many of the workers in the certified fields are retiring and they're not being replaced," said Ball.

And as the population gets older and larger, healthcare is booming.

"If forty or fifty nurses, qualified nurses, were to walk through the doors of any of the hospitals in this town, they'd be hired immediately," said Ball.

Energy prices might aggravate at the gas pump, but those prices mean energy companies are hiring.

"Certainly they're high here too for the consumer, but they're somewhat offset by our very, very concentrated petroleum industry here," said Ball.

To give some perspective, Idaho has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 2.7% and Michigan has the highest at 7.4.