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Recession Less Severe in Green Country

Last Update: 12/01/2008 9:41 pm

Print Story |

Tonight what has been painfully obvious to most Americans for months becomes official. Analysts announced today the nation’s economy has been in a recession since December of last year. The announcement came from the National Bureau of Economic Research, an academic body that tracks economic activity.

FOX 23’s Douglas Clark takes a closer look at today's announcement and why Oklahoma is doing much better than many others parts of our country.

Official word of a year-long recession came amid slowing production and climbing unemployment figures. But for Green Country residents, there’s a silver lining. The state’s unemployment rate of 4.3% is well below the national rate of 6.5%.

“The Oklahoma economy continues to do quite well,” says BOK Financial Chief Investment Officer Jim Huntzinger.

He says a major reason for Oklahoma’s stable economy is the energy sector.

“Over the last few years, oil and natural gas prices have generally moved higher. And so our economy has done very, very well. We’ve employed a lot of Oklahomans in those areas,” says Huntzinger.

He says now that oil prices have fallen dramatically in the last 60 days, our economy may stagnate slightly but will likely stay ahead of national trends.

Another factor used to determine boom and bust cycles is personal income.
Oklahoma lags behind the national average, which has allowed it to remain stable.

“We don’t have as many high-paying jobs. We don’t have as many finance jobs that the east coast has. But of course, that’s where a lot of the job losses have been in the last six months, Wall Street and finance-related jobs,” says Huntzinger.

Oklahoma is also insulated from the economic downturn because of its stable housing market. It has not seen the dramatic growth and decline in real estate like other areas of the country.

A number of economists are predicting this recession could last for another six to eight months, which would make it the longest significant downturn in our economy since the Great Depression.

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