Officials Express Optimism Over Lowering Unemployment Rate Statewide

At this time last year, more than three million Americans filed for unemployment due to the pandemic.

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission recently said the rate of unemployment has improved drastically. In Feb. 2020, OESC said the unemployment rate was 3.1%. As of Jan. 2021, the unemployment rate checked in at 4.2%. State employment officials said those figures are still an encouraging sign of things to come.

According to OESC, approximately 80,000 to 100,000 more Oklahomans file for unemployment benefits each week.

During the peak of the pandemic, the agency gave out $230 million of benefits in one month. Despite these statistics, OESC director Shelley Zumwalt said the state has seen signs of returning to pre-COVID figures.

She says she is optimistic that as more people get the vaccine, more jobs will open up as businesses open back up.

“So I'm excited to see what we will have the opportunity to do," Zumwalt said. "Let's say in a month from now when we've opened it up completely. I think that we will be ahead of the curve from other states, absolutely.”

Zumwalt said she is just happy to be a part of the progress being made. All of the sleepless nights she had are slowly paying off.

"I came into it knowing that it was going to be probably the hardest job I was ever going to have," Zumwalt said. "But, you know, with big risk comes big reward.”

Nicole Hiatt recently filed for unemployment after losing her job in February. She said taking care of her five children has been far from easy.

“That's been a battle," Hiatt said. "A struggle financially, emotionally, spiritually. It's just awful."

Zumwalt said OESC has seen first call resolutions go up to 80 percent as of last week.

If you need to file for unemployment, call 1-800-555-1554. We also have a link to the website here.