Oklahoma Employment and Education

Unemployment in Oklahoma is down from last year’s rate of 4.4% to this year’s rate of 4%. A wide spectrum of major corporations call this state home, lending to the city of Tulsa’s 2002 ranking as the 2nd Best Place in the Nation to do Business. Some of the many corporate and regional headquarters found here are SBC, The Hertz Corporation and AOL. There were over 35,000 new jobs created in 2005 and earnings were up 1.9%. Oklahoma is a major producer of Natural Gas. Additional industries supporting the state’s economy are: finance, government, air craft manufacturing, food production and technology. Agriculture is also a major economic contributor. Oklahoma farms produce cattle and dairy products as well as wheat, cotton and poultry. Peaches and pecans are also grown in Oklahoma’s fertile plains.

Oklahoma Education

Graduation rates in the state have gone up almost 15% in the last decade. In the year 2000, the graduation rate was 80.6%. Outstanding academic programs are available from pre-kindergarten to college, offering students the best chance at success through an integrated, collaborating network of public school districts, private and parochial schools. NAEP testing shows that younger students are improving on their basic math abilities. In 2003, they scored at 74%, and in 2005, the scores were up 4%. Reading abilities did stay the same at 60% efficiency in 2003 and 2005, while 8th graders scores actually went down 2% in both areas of reading and math.