Slow economic growth forecast for Oklahoma

Tuesday, November 12th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma's economy is expected to rebound more slowly than the rest of the country in 2003, according to data released by an Oklahoma State University economist.

Economist Dan Rickman also said Oklahoma's economy appears to have avoided the recession felt by most other states last year.

Oklahoma was one of 14 states that saw overall employment growth from September 2001 to September 2002.

The state's nonfarm employment growth slowed to about 0.6 percent, but it never dropped, even as the overall national economy fell by nearly 1 percent during the past 12 months. Most of the national decline was in the technology sector.

``We didn't have that as much as some of the states on the coasts and in Texas. Those states have been very hurt by the recession.'' Rickman said Monday. ``Oklahoma has enough of an energy sector that has helped us out, and our construction industry has been very strong.''

Rickman projected that 2002 will close with a 0.6 percent growth rate in jobs for the year in Oklahoma. He said the state will continue to see that kind of growth in 2003 while the national economy will grow by more than 1 percent.

The state's modest gain in 2002 is expected to be led by a 2.2 percent increase in mining jobs, followed by a 1.2 percent gain in construction, Rickman said.

``The mining sector doesn't always run with the U.S. business cycle. That's driven more by energy prices than the U.S. business market,'' he said. ``In terms of construction, whatever expansion we see in this state has to involve new construction because we don't have a lot of unused buildings.''

The state's largest declines were in the sector called transportation, communications and public utilities, which dropped 2.1 percent on the year.

That sector is expected to increase by about 1 percent in Tulsa in 2002 while Oklahoma City declines by about 2.6 percent.