Tag: jobs

Nearly half of Oklahoma households are one misstep away from financial insecurity

Despite an improving national economy and a (deceptively) low statewide average unemployment rate, nearly half (49.1 percent) of Oklahoma households are in a persistent state of financial insecurity, according to a report released today by the Corporation for Enterprise Development… Read more [More...]

Crappy Holidays: Retail work in Oklahoma

Early January is a busy time of year for retail stores.  Shoppers flock to malls and shopping centers to take advantage of storewide after-holiday sales, spend their gift cards, and return or exchange items.  While many consumers find the holiday… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Kathy Ruffing): Why is labor force participation shrinking?

Kathy Ruffing is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), specializing in federal budget issues. A previous version of this post appeared on the CBPP’s Off the Charts blog. With monthly jobs reports making the… Read more [More...]

Fall 2012 student internship with OK Policy

OK Policy is looking for one or two students for a paid part-time internship during the fall 2012 semester. Students would be expected to work between 8 and 15 hours over one to three days per week, depending on their… Read more [More...]

Summer student internship opportunity with OK Policy

OK Policy is looking for students for a paid part-time or full-time internship during the Summer of 2012. Students will be expected to work between 15 and 40 hours per week, depending on their schedules and availability.  The position will… Read more [More...]

For Oklahoma jobs, don't mess with success

This post is by OK Policy intern Emily Callen. Emily is a senior at the University of Tulsa, where she is pursuing a major in Biology and a minor in Economics. A longtime wonk-in-training, Emily has for years been boring… Read more [More...]

Gov. Martin O'Malley: The business case for health reform

These comments were excerpted from a speech by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to a plenary session of an annual healthcare conference hosted by FamiliesUSA. Our country is now poised through the Affordable Care Act to help millions of American families… Read more [More...]

Watch This: Long term unemployment, 1967-2011

This animated graph, produced by the TellTaleChart, illustrates the unprecedented spike in long-term unemployment during and after the Great Recession.  The current median duration of unemployment (or weeks out of work) represents a dramatic departure from decades of unemployment trends. … Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s Unemployment Gap: The labor market isn’t colorblind

This post is the first in a three-part series on “Oklahoma’s Unemployment Gap,” examining the persistence of racial disparities in unemployment.  Part One introduces the unemployment gap and presents preliminary descriptive data on state labor market trends by race.  Part… Read more [More...]

Falling Unemployment: Are workers getting jobs or getting discouraged?

The national unemployment rate rose for the second consecutive month in May, edging up to 9.1 percent. Fortunately for Oklahoma, the unemployment rate is moving in the opposite direction, dropping for a fifth consecutive month in April to 5.6 percent,… Read more [More...]