Oklahoma will see growth, more jobs in 2013, OSU's Spears School economist forecasts

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

NOTE: All of the presentations by the speakers at the 2013 Oklahoma Economic Outlook Conference can be accessed at: http://economy.okstate.edu/forecasts/

Oklahoma is expected to see continued job growth in 2013 as the state continues to bounce back from economic struggles in recent years, Oklahoma State University economist Dan Rickman said Wednesday during the 2013 Oklahoma Economic Outlook Conference.

The conference is hosted each December by the Center for Applied Economic Research in the Spears School of Business. This year's conference, held at the Metro Technology Centers at Springlake Campus in Oklahoma City, includes discussions of economic conditions and prospects for Oklahoma and the United States.

Rickman projects that more than 26,000 jobs will be added to the Oklahoma workforce during the 12-month period beginning Jan. 1. The majority of those jobs will be in professional and business services (with more than 5,000 new jobs created) and construction (more than 4,000) industries, Rickman's forecast reflects.

Other industries in which major job growth is forecast are in state and local government (more than 3,700), the leisure and hospitality field (more than 3,500) and the wholesale trade sector (more than 2,700), said Rickman, Regents Professor of Economics and Oklahoma Gas and Electric Services Chair in Regional Economic Analysis.

"Employment growth across the nation has become much more even in recent months and Oklahoma's growth is expected to only slightly exceed the nation's growth in the upcoming year," Rickman said. "Energy-related employment appears to have peaked with the moderation in oil prices. Other states hard hit by the recession have begun to recover more robustly."

Within Oklahoma, Rickman forecasts growth in small remote (non-adjacent) counties that are not farming counties. The counties where he sees the most employment growth include Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Canadian, Delaware, Ellis, Garfield, Kingfisher, Logan, Love, McClain, Murray, Osage, Pittsburg, Rogers, Stephen and Woodward.

Rickman concluded by noting that "growth nationally and in Oklahoma depends critically on the nation not falling off the fiscal cliff."

Also speaking at the conference:

• Deidre D. Myers, Director, Research & Economic Analysis, Oklahoma Department of Commerce

• Jonathan Willner, Professor of Economics, Meinders School of Business, Oklahoma City University

• Stephen McKeever, Oklahoma Secretary of Science and Technology and Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer at Oklahoma State University

• Chad Wilkerson, Vice President, Branch Executive and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Oklahoma City Branch

Sponsors of the conference are the Center for Applied Economic Research (CAER) at the Spears School of Business, CareerTech, Metro Technology Centers, and OSU's Center for Executive and Professional Development.